• In July 2006 Church Report online announced the top 50 churches
  • 1.  Willow Creek Community Church-South Barrington, IL
  • 2.  Saddleback Church-Lake Forest, CA
  • 3.  North Point Community Church, Alpharetta, GA (North Point is the youngest of the group and began in 1995 with about 1,200 people)
  • 4. Fellowship Church-Grapevine, TX
  • 5. Lakewood Church-Houston, TX

In the last five years, [churches with at least 500 in attendance] have gained an additional 20,000 more in worship, to just over 100,000 in an average week.  During the same time period, their Sunday Schools have grown by 9,000 and their small groups by nearly 12,000.  Children and teen Sunday School in large churches grew by 4,500 during the last five years, which is the same amount that the adult Sunday School grew.

• Of the 1,370 Churches of the Nazarene that averaged between 100 and 499 in 2005, worship gains also totaled about 20,000 over the last five years.

• There are 2,504 Churches of the Nazarene that have consistently averaged less than 100 in worship.  Among these churches, worship has increased about 1,000 over the past five years. Overall, Sunday School has declined by about 1,500 while small group ministries have grown by 4,000.

Catholic ministry is failing to keep up with increasing number of southern Catholics.  Between 1990 and 2000, the U.S. population grew by 17 percent in the South. Catholic population growth was almost double that at 30 percent. In spite of that dramatic increase in the number of Catholics, there was a net increase of only 34 Catholic congregations in the entire South, with three-quarters of those new congregations in Florida, Ken Sanchagrin reports. 

• Read more and/or order the map from the Glenmary Research Center.

(Ventura, CA) – Pastors may be employed in one of society’s most demanding professions and many churchgoers may place unrealistic expectations on their leaders. But today’s pastors are surprisingly similar to people from other walks of life – with doubts and insecurities of their own. Pastors brim with self-confidence in many areas of their ministry, but admit it is a challenge to maintain genuine connections with other people.  majority of pastors (61%) admit that they “have few close friends.” 

• one-sixth of today’s pastors feel under-appreciated
• one in every five contends that they are currently “dealing with a very difficult family situation.” 
• Boomer leaders (those ages 41-59) were most likely to say they have few close friends, but they were the least likely to feel under-appreciated.
• Older pastors (ages 60+) were the most likely to feel inadequately recognized for their efforts.
• True to their friendship-oriented generational identity, Buster pastors (ages 22-40) were also the least likely to feel relationally isolated.

The CR Daily and thechurchreport.com are pleased to announce their annual list of The Most Influential Churches in America.  The 2006 survey was emailed to leaders of more than 2,000 of the largest non-Catholic congregations in the nation by Church Growth Today in April and May. A small selected group of smaller churches were also invited to recommend churches.  Participants were asked to recommend up to 10 churches (vs. 5 last year) they onsidered to be among the nation’s most infl uential. A total of 83 churches were recommended. A total of 57 percent of all church leader recommendations named these five churches.

A summary of all 50 churches reveals:

1. Willow Creek Community Church (South Barrington, Ill.),
2. Saddleback Church (Lake Forest, Calif.),
3. North Point Community Church (Alpharetta, Ga.)
4. Fellowship Church (Grapevine, Texas)
5. Lakewood Church (Houston, Texas)      

• The Most Influential Churches in America, complete list. 
  About The Church Report: The Church Report is a national business news magazine that is distributed to over 50,000 senior pastors and Christian leaders from across the United States. In addition to the monthly magazine, The Church Report also offers a companion Web site (www.thechurchreport.com) that features a daily news service, employment opportunities, live chats, Web blog and much more.

For the first time since the 1930s, the U.S. membership of the United Methodist Church has dropped to just under 8 million.

• Membership decreased 1.05 percent in 2005.
• U.S. membership had decreased by 0.81 percent, to about 8.07 million in 2004.
• Membership had declined annually since the formation of the denomination in 1968.
• Church attendance in 2005 was 3.34 million, the lowest level in reported history.
• Attendance had decreased by 1.63 percent from 2004 to 2005.
        
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• The Presbyterian Church U.S.A. (11,106 churches) has experienced a decline of 11.6 percent over the previous ten years
• The United Methodist Church (35,721 churches) was down 6.7 percent
• The Episcopal Church (7,314 churches) lost 5.3 percent of its membership
• The United Churches of Christ (5,863 churches) declined 14.8 percent
• The American Baptist Churches USA were down 5.7 percent.
  

• "God-Lite Doesn’t Cut It, Americans like a stouter brand" by Dave Shiflett
• A New Exodus? Americans are Exiting Liberal Churches  by Al Mohler
• Download PowerPoint® Slides  
        

Membership in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) declined by more than two percent in 2005, marking the highest percentage loss in the graying denomination since 1975.

• Figures indicated a loss of 48,474 members -2.05 percent -since 2004.
• The losses occurred in "virtually every statistical category," according to PNS
  • 28,680 lost by transferring to other churches
  • 36,191 leaving by death
  • This exodus offset the 125,000 new people who joined the denomination last year.
    
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AFFILIATION:
14%  Southern Baptist
12%  Independent (charismatic)
12%  Independent (non-charismatic)
10%  Other Baptist
  8%  United Methodist
  6%  Episcopalian
38%  Other: Independent Christian, Foursquare, Assemblies of God, COGIC, and Calvary Chapel

SIZE (Attendance):
36%  10,000+
72%  5,000+
90%  2,000+

THEOLOGY:
22%  Charismatic/Pentecostal
78%  Non Charismatic/Pentecostal
22%  Mainline Denomination

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Americans' attitudes toward the Catholic religion were quite positive in March 2000, but became significantly more negative in April 2002. Now, views have recovered but still are not as positive as at the beginning of the decade. 

Fifty-seven percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Catholic religion; 30% have an unfavorable opinion.  There is a major distinction in views of the Catholic religion between those who identify with a Christian religion and those who do not

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