• Penecostals account for 23 percent of Americans according to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
• In six countries at least four of every 10 Pentecostals surveyed say they never speak or pray in tongues
• When U.S. adults in the survey were asked if they agree that Christians have a responsibility "to work for justice for the poor" 90 percent of Pentecostals and 85 percent of charismatic believers agreed.
  • Between 93 and 72 percent agreed in Brazil, Chile and Guatemala
  • In Kenya, 97 percent agreed

It's important to realize that many people are open to church attendance if they're asked. And that simple effort may help them make the initial step toward a decision for Christ. Certainly people come to faith in Christ without ever having stepped into a church. But it's much easier to plant, water, and cultivate in the context of community.

So, why don't many people come to our churches and consider the claims of Christ. The North American Mission Board's Center for Missional Research studied the attitudes and perceptions of the unchurched regarding Southern Baptists.

• The 20 million Southern Baptists tallied in the "Religious Congregations and Membership: 2000" study are 4 million more than the convention's membership records indicate. 
• Southern Baptists, up 5 percent during the 1990s, are among the denominations experiencing growth

• Students are entering seminary at a later age than previous generations and the average age of newly ordained priests has risen to 37, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
• In 2005, 32 percent of newly ordained priests had completed a graduate or professional degree beyond the baccalaureate, compared to 13 percent in 1998.
• Up to 80 percent of students enrolled in seminary drop out.
• In a poll of 1,854 Roman Catholic priests conducted in 2002 by The Morning Call and Los Angeles Times, seven in 10 priests said the sex abuse scandals are the church's biggest crisis in 100 years, but not their greatest challenge. The greatest hurdles were a secular society, the priest shortage and burnout.

• The annual number of death sentences has dropped dramatically from a total of 300 in 1998 to 125 in 2004.
• Today, 38 of the 50 states allow the death penalty
• According to the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, 1,045 individuals have been executed since 1976.
  • The largest number in a single year was in 1999 with 98 executions.
  • As of September, 41 individuals have been executed this year.
• Since the first recognized execution of a juvenile offender in 1642, the United States has executed at least 366 people for crimes committed as juveniles
  • Since 1990, the US has executed more juvenile offenders than all other countries combined

• Data from the 2006 assessment by the Mayo Clinic for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America shows professional leaders have an average of 4.3 risk factors
  • The data show that about 1.8 of the risk factors are related to "medical risk" or inherited conditions that a person cannot control.
  • About 2.5 factors are lifestyle risks, citing lack of exercise, poor eating habits, some smoking and some excessive alcohol consumption.
  • The 2006 data states about 71 percent of the participants have risk factors because of poor nutrition
  • 69 percent are overweight

Research from the Vanier Institute of the Family shows weekly attendance at a religious service, which was down to 20 percent a few years ago, is up to 25 percent, monthly attendance is as high as 37 percent.  Weekly teenage attendance dropped from 23% to 18% between 1984 and 1992, but had grown to 22% in 2000

Eighty percent of Canadians identify with one of the following religions:  the Roman Catholic Church, Mainline Protestants, Conservative Protestants, or Other World Faiths.

• There are 1,210 Protestant churches in the United States with weekly attendance over 2,000, nearly double the number that existed 5 years ago.
• The megachurches surveyed reported a 2005 average regular weekly attendance of 3,585 persons.
  • Only 16% have 5,000 or more in attendance each week.
  • The median seating capacity of the largest worship service was 1,400.
  • At least 50% of churches use multiple venues for worship as well as satellite locations to increase seating capacity.
• The four states with the greatest concentrations of megachurches are California (14%), Texas (13%), Florida (7%) and Georgia (6%).
• The groups with the largest numbers of megachurches in our survey sample included nondenominational (36%), Southern Baptist (20%), United Methodist (9%), and Assemblies of God (5%). 

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life recently conducted surveys in 10 countries with sizeable renewalist populations…

• Pentecostals and Charismatics comprise nearly one-quarter of all Christians.
• 5% of the U.S. label themselves as Pentecostal, 18% charismatic. (23% renewalists)
• In the Philippines, the number of charismatics, most of them Catholic, is 10 times the number of Pentecostals.
• Majorities of renewalists in every country surveyed say that it is important to them that their political leaders have strong Christian beliefs.

• The largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S. has reported that its baptized membership was 4.85 million in 10,549 congregations last year, a one-year decrease of about 1.6 percent and the 14th straight annual decline in membership.
• Income continues to grow, however, for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, up nearly 3 percent from the previous year to more than $2.67 billion.
• Though the ELCA's confirmed membership also decreased in 2005--to 3.63 million people--the average regular giving to the church grew to $598, an increase f of 4.8 percent over 2004.