The 2005 statistical year saw a near-record number of 33,598 people join the Church of the Nazarene in the USA and Canada. Churches that averaged less than 50 in worship received a total of 4,756 new Nazarenes. And churches that were organized before 1940 took in 35% of all the new Nazarenes received.

As church size increases, so does the likelihood that new Nazarenes will outpace Nazarene losses.

• All of the churches that averaged 500 or more in worship received new Nazarenes. The net change in the largest churches—those with an average worship attendance of 1,000 or more—increased an average of 34.3 people.

Most of the churches (63%) in the USA and Canada today were organized before 1960.

• These two groups of churches (1900-1939 and 1940-1959) account for 59% of all new Nazarenes, but they also account for 69% of all Nazarene losses.
• Fortunately, their total number of new Nazarenes is larger than their total number of Nazarene losses so that they do have a positive net change per church of 0.9 and 0.5 respectively.

• Researchers found between 69-94 percent of Christian youths forsake their faith after leaving high school.
  • The Barna Group reported 64 percent loss after college graduation.
  • The Assemblies of God conducted a 10-year study and found 75 percent loss of their students within one year of high school graduation.
  • The Southern Baptists found that number to be even higher at 88 percent loss.
  • Josh McDowell Ministries reports 94 percent fallout within two years of high school graduation.

Does Congregational Size Influence the Percentage of New People?

• Download PPT
• New People in U.S. Congregations: Who are They and Why Do they Come?  by Deborah A Bruce, Research Services, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) presentation at the Religious Research Association (RRA), Kansas City, 2004.
• Like Cheese to a Mouse: Luring New Worshipers:  U.S. Congregational Life Survey Overview