In my post on Monday, I asserted that a revitalization wave is about to come to our churches, and I am really serious and optimistic about it. In that article, I shared how churches will be impacted from a high-level perspective. In this post, I will explain why I see this major trend on the horizon.
I began with the total number of churches in North America, about 350,000. For many reasons, we can’t get a precise number, but I believe our estimates are close.
In the article Monday, I also stated that 300,000, or 85%, of all churches needed some level of revitalization, from modest to radical revitalization. In our research we released a year ago, we found that 65% of churches were declining or plateaued. Based upon our interactions with other congregational leaders, we see about another 20% of churches with modest but declining growth rates. The sum of those two is thus 85%.
Here is where I take a contrarian position compared to many others, including positions I have held in the past: Of the 300,000 churches in need of revitalization, 100,000 will revitalize organically or internally, and another 100,000 will be revitalized through replanting. It’s a bold assertion, but something that could very well unfold over the next five to ten years.
Why I am optimistic? Am I in a state of denial? Bear with me as I share five reasons for the likelihood of a wave of revitalization.
- Thousands of church leaders are facing reality. They are not denying the difficult state of their churches. This…
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