• Overall, the most popular view Americans hold today is that the Bible is the inspired word of God with 47 percent claiming such a view while 19 percent believe the Bible is a book of ancient fables, legends, and history as recorded by man.

• A study conducted by Zogby International in March learned that while Christians and documentaries try to prove the resurrection of Christ this Easter, many already believe Jesus rose from the dead 2,000 years ago.
• According to recent research by the Center for Missional Research of the North American Mission Board – the Southern Baptist domestic mission agency – 75 percent of Americans who say they are not born-again Christians still believe the biblical account of Jesus literally coming back to life in his physical body. 
• Based on response from the study, the research center suggests Easter messages may not require a defense of the physical resurrection but a focus that is more on the meaning and redemptive power for the individual.

The North American Mission Board (NAMB) partners with the six Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) seminaries and one Canadian seminary to train church planters. The partnership was launched in 1998 and has been in place at all the seminaries since 2000. As part of the original covenant, the parties agreed to evaluate its impact. This article is based on the first of several research bulletins birthed from a study undertaken by the Center for Missional Research at the North American Mission Board.

• A LifeWay Research study found only 22 out of 43,000 SBC (Southern Baptist Convention) churches met the criteria of baptizing at least 26 people per year, overall attendance growth and a membership-to-baptism ratio of no more than 20 to 1 over the last 10 years.
• The study further noted that the average tenure of the pastors is 15 years.
• Across the 22 churches, pastors also stress the importance of preaching the gospel and providing opportunities for lost people to respond.
  • More than two-thirds say they make an altar call at the end of every service while others have people fill out a decision card.
• One-third of the pastors indicate they preach topically and almost half use expositional or textual preaching.
• Most pastors say their worship style is "contemporary," "informal," and "casual."
  • Others say theirs is blended in terms of music and only one pastor described his church's worship as "traditional."
  • Four of the churches consider their worship services to be “seeker- driven” or “seeker-targeted."
• Eleven churches use on-campus Sunday school as their primary fellowship groups, while six meet in off-campus small groups, and two have a mix of on and off-campus groups.

• According to the Pew Research study, 84 percent say young adults today have better educational opportunities
  • 72 percent say they have access to higher paying jobs
  • 64 percent believe they live in "more exciting times."
• About half of Gen Nexters say the growing number of immigrants to the U.S. strengthens the country and 58 percent say that homosexuality should be accepted.
• 89 percent of young adults say it's all right for blacks and whites to date each other
• One in five members of Generation Next say they have no religious affiliation or are atheist or agnostic
• Less young people identify themselves as Protestant (44 percent).

• Downtown and central city congregations are more likely to decline than all other areas (26% are declining), followed by towns and small cities (23%) and rural areas (21%).
• Least likely to grow rapidly are predominantly white,  non-Hispanic congregations.
  • Among these congregations, only 31% experienced the highest level of growth from 2000 to 2005.
• Congregations where older adults (over age 60) comprise 20% or less of active adult participants are most likely to grow.
  • Congregations in which more than 40% of their regular participants are over 60 are very unlikely to grow. 
• 18% of mainline churches claim to be liberal, 25% are right in the middle, 32% are somewhat conservative and 25% are predominantly conservative.
• 12% of congregations have three services and 11% have four or more on a typical weekend.

• The research found that only three types of outreach are offered by U.S. Protestant churches.
  • Food oriented donations tops the list at 73 percent of churches
  • Vacation Bible School (68 percent) 
  • Holiday food programs for poor families during Christmas or Thanksgiving (65 percent).
• Other types of community outreach offered by much smaller proportions of churches in the last year include:
  • prison ministry (25 percent)
  • homeless outreach (24 percent)
  • Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts (20 percent)
  • blood drives (17 percent)
  • after-school programs for kids (14 percent)

• 50 Most Influential Christians in America in 2006
  • Bishop TD Jakes
  • Joel Osteen
  • Billy Graham
  • Dr. Rick Warren
  • Bill Hybels
  • Paul Crouch
  • Joyce Meyer
  • President George W. Bush
  • Dr. James C. Dobson

• A Financial Times/Harris Poll surveyed adults in the United States and in five European countries, measuring their religious views on various aspects and found that Americans are more likely than Europeans to believe in any form of God or Supreme Being.
• Results showed that 73 percent of Americans believe in God or Supreme Being and 62 percent of Italians expressed this belief.
  • The French are the least likely with 27 percent agreeing.
• Among those who expressed their belief in a higher being, nearly half of Americans said they follow the same religious beliefs as their parents. 
• Adults in Italy (62 percent) are most likely to have the same religious beliefs as their parents.
  • In Great Britain, only 35 percent said the same.
• On the subject of religion and education, 68 percent of Italians said religion should be taught in state schools
  • 56 percent of British adults and Germans agreed
• Adults in the United States and France are the least likely to agree with religion being taught in state schools.