↑ Grab this Headline Animator

LifeWay Research Study Reveals Church Planting in U.S. is Bigger Than...

rch-planting churches and some 45 church planting networks. These developments promise profound cultural implications for the future.

Nashville, Tenn. November 15, 2007 -- Denominational growth in America has reached a plateau and in many cases has declined, but one would get the wrong idea to think the evangelical church is dying in the United States. A recent study finds just the opposite.

Dallas-based Leadership Network, in cooperation with the director of LifeWay Research (www.leadnet.org/churchplanting). Stetzer headed up the project and reported that the results surprised him in many respects.

"Church planting has grown in its scope, diversity and impact," Stetzer said. "North American churches, networks and denominations are making church planting a growing priority. Such emphases push the church closer toward a movement - where churches plant churches that plant churches across North America and the world."

Dave Travis, managing director at Leadership Network, observed, "Most church-planting studies tend to look at either a very narrow slice of church planting or developments on a global scale. In commissioning this study, our goal was to review the current state of U.S. church-planting efforts and begin to assess what today's reality means for the next generation of planters."

Key findings of the six-months-long effort include the following:

1.    Interest is growing rapidly. The pace of church planting has accelerated dramatically in recent years. For example, a simple Google search on the term "church planting" now returns over one million hits. And, while only two mainstream books were published on church planting from 1996 to 2002, no fewer than 10 have been released in the last five years, with several more on the horizon. Equally important, church planting has now become a preferred ministry option, not a consolation prize - denominations and individual churches report that many of their "best and brightest" leaders are pursuing church planting as a primary ministry focus.

2.    Local churches and church planting networks are driving the charge. Historically, church planting has been a denominationally driven activity. Today, the picture is quite different - with much of the energy centered at the local level. Many of the country's most vibrant congregations see church planting as one of their central purposes. "Church-planting networks" - loose affiliations of churches that may or may not be tied by denomination but do share a commitment to launching new, like-minded congregations - are also at the forefront of the movement. As a result, denominational offices are increasingly taking a subordinate role - equipping rather than directing local congregational efforts.

3.    "Affinity" strategies dominate. Church planters once based their efforts on geography - the goal was to place new churches in "unserved" communities and areas. Today's church planters are much more sophisticated. As Travis noted, "Through this study, we learned that most successful church planters today are specialists who emphasize a particular style of worship or a specific demographic. For example, they may exclusively plant house churches or ethnic churches - or perhaps build purpose-driven, seeker or missional churches. And the trend toward specialization is likely to continue as more tools and resources that serve specific types of planting strategies are developed."

4.    Survival and success are markedly greater than realized. Observers have long assumed that most church plants fail within the first year - as many as 80-90 percent, by some estimates. Research reveals a very different picture - suggesting that 68 percent of the roughly 4,000 churches planted each year are still functioning four years later. These baby churches may not yet be self-sufficient, but the congregations themselves are alive and many are thriving.

What do these results mean for the future of the U.S. church According to Travis, "I am hopeful that this study and the growing number of outstanding church planting conferences and resources will inspire a new wave of planters in the years ahead. That would be very good news indeed. Launching vibrant new congregations is often a more feasible and more fruitful strategy than attempting to revitalize struggling congregations."

Leadership Network has created four free reports that summarize different aspects of this groundbreaking study:

-    Church Planting Overview

-    Who Starts New Churches

-    Funding New Churches

-    Improving the Health and Survivability of New Churches

All can be downloaded at www.leadnet.org/podcasts.

About LifeWay Research: LifeWay Research is a department of LifeWay Christian Resources and exists for the purpose of assisting and equipping church leaders with insight and advice that will lead to greater levels of church health and effectiveness. Additional studies can be found at www.leadnet.org, www.successtosignificance.com or contact Rick Long at 1.800.477.6698 x102 or rlong @ sourcepub.com.

CONTACT:

Chris Turner, Media Relations Manager

chris.turner @ lifeway.com

(615) 251-2307

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

---

This article has been robotically scanned and tagged by Prnewsnow with the following search tags. No human manipulation of these tags take place.
| Health | American Community | qualified medical expenses |

---

4943 readers online...

, Local News