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Match Context and Document information |
URL: | https://www.bible.ca/evangelism/e-stats.htm |
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Depth: | 2 links away from Home |
Size: | 15,470 bytes |
Modified: | 2024-06-16 03:00:12 |
Categories: | -None- |
Title: | Statistics of Religion in North America |
Description: | -None- |
Keywords: | -None- |
Meta data: | -None- |
Body: | Statistics of Religion in North America Click to View Profile of the public Attendance is menu option everyone expects to go to heaven Balance scale salvation Salvation by works: good outweighs bad Doing the absolute minimum to be saved very stable in their religious traditions very closed minded no desire or need to search Things not up for grab "The social gospel has served to intensify the affiliational stability that was already durable because of parent-offspring transmission. Even the 'no religion' category is unattractive, since almost everyone requires some professional religious services in the course of a lifetime. Just as it is handy to have a good dentist or lawyer, so it is handy to have access to a minister or priest. The attendance drop-off in no sense means 'things are up for grabs'." Affiliation Stability of General Public Attend Weekly: 25% Inactives: 75% Wouldn't switch: 96% Might Switch 4% Wouldn't Switch: 80% Might Switch: 20% Only 16% of Population Might Switch, but probably won't (4% X 25% + 20% X 75% = 16%) Understanding the difference Attenders (committed) 25% Non-attenders (uncommitted) 75% Already attend weekly Don't attend anywhere Strong church social ties Few church social ties Steeped in False doctrine Superficial belief system Hard to teach truth Easy to teach truth the religious cafeteria junky Asked of the 75% who don't attend weekly: "Some observers maintain that few people are actually abandoning their religious traditions. Rather, they draw selective beliefs and practices, even if they do not attend services frequently. They are not about to be recruited by other religious groups. Their identification with their religious tradition is fairly solidly fixed, and it is to these groups that they will turn when confronted with marriage, death and frequently, birth. How well would you say this observation describes YOU?" very accurately 45% somewhat accurately 33% not accurately at all 12% Religion a' La Carte Church leaders in 1800's "This is what religion is" church leaders today "What do you want religion to be" What will market bear? 2 Timothy 4:1-5 Religion A` La Carte in practice Ordination of Practicing Homosexuals 1 Cor 6:9-10 Pre-Marital Sex Permitted Heb 13:4 Woman Preaching in Pulpit 2 Tim 2:2 Emasculate God (father to person) Deut 4:2 Church Membership by yearly $$$ Heb 10:25 Every Social Program Under the Sun John 6 How can they practice such things? It is the doctrine of the times! Social gospel: attracting the masses with bread Negative Attendance Spiral To increase membership roll, Preachers water down gospel which leads to... Weekly attenders begin to view attendance as optional which leads to... Average commitment level drops which leads to... Fewer people, not more, attend church To increase membership roll, Preachers water down gospel even more... and so on ... The social gospel leads to spiritual death Conservative Protestant Church Growth by source 51% Transfers & Other Churches 27% Children of Members 22% "Sinners" (marriage & friendship) "If evangelicals are serious about recruiting 'real live sinners', the best approach is either to befriend or marry them. For that is how most are actually recruited." Reginald Bibby Church of Christ in Ontario Growth 1979-1989 ("Inquiry into growth of churches of Christ in Ontario" by Geoffrey Ellis 1990) 15 selected congregations average size 94; total membership 1410 Over 10 years Total baptisms (10 years) 582 Baptisms from biology 219 Baptisms from outreach 363 Net 10 year gain (gains-losses) 222 Per church per year Baptisms 3.8 Baptisms from outreach 2.4 Net increase 1.5 Members to baptize 1 outsider 39 Members to grow by 1 (net) 63 Cults in Canada A. Membership numbers (multiply by 10 for USA) Scientologist 700 Hare Krishna 450 Moonies 650 Children of god 250 New age type groups 4100 B. Cults represent the extreme fringe C. Public Anxiety Greatly Misplaced Selecting an approach in evangelism Target Their Needs Committed Uncommitted emphasis: False religion damns emphasis: All non-attenders are lost focus: doctrine focus: commitement to Christ We cannot use first century sermons as a pattern for today Antitypes of two times First century Today many Lord's - one church one Lord - many churches (antitype: Todays uncommited) (antitype: Todays commited) focus: which Lord? focus: which church? Cultural, geographic, social environment factors converts before & after Corinth Philippi Highly Transient population Retirement city for Roman officers High divorce rate Stable families Morally corrupt Generally Moral Book of Church Problems: Preacheritus, Immorality, Lawsuits, Divorce, Lord's Supper corrupted, Misuse Gifts of HS: 1 Corinthians "My Joy and Crown" Philippians 4:1 Same is true today: The quality of the church will somewhat depend upon the quality of the population you are converting from. Steve Rudd Click Your Choice Go to Interactive Bible Websight Go back to Evangelism Websight |