Umm…at the risk of making this the shortest blog post ever…YES.
OK, but seriously. We do need more churches. Why? #OKCalmDown, I will explain.
First, a question – take a guess – what is the current ratio of churches to people in the US? Like 1 church per XX number of people – what do you think? Let’s look at some data. In 1820 there was an average of 1 church for 875 people. But from 1860 to 1906 Protestant churches planted like crazy and by the start of WWI, that number became 1 church per 430 persons. Pretty sweet, eh?
So, how are we doing today? Any guesses? Now we are in much worse shape. There is 1 church per every 1,000 people. Many cities, like Vernon NJ where we are looking to plant, has about 1 church per 10,000 people! That means that only about 1% of the community is going to a church. Any church!
Point? There is plenty of room for more churches.
But why plant new churches? There are already a lot of churches. Can’t we just have a bake sale or an e-mail blast to politely ask people to start going back to church? Doesn’t this say that we are in the wrong business? Yes, there are…but…let’s look at something super important.
The average established church draws 80-90% of their attenders from other established churches. The average new church gains most of it’s new members from the ranks of people that are not attending any church – the average is 66% of people who would attend a new church have not been attending any church. Some sources say that it is closer to 80% of the attendees of a new church are not attending any church. This means that planting new churches, expanding campuses into other towns, draws unbelievers who are then exposed to the gospel and disciples are made and matured – and that folks, is what it is all about – reaching people with the gospel of Jesus!
So, we are back where we started. Yes. We do need more churches. And we need them ASAP!
Interested in attending a new church forming in the Vernon, NJ area? Check out our About Page.
