FACT SHEET: Churches in America

FACTS… about American churches:
* Nearly 85% of all churches in America are plateaued or declining;

* Half of all churches in America have not added any new members in the past year.

* Every year, 4,000 churches in America close.

* In the last 15 years the number of adults in the U.S. who do not attend church has nearly doubled.

* Nearly 65% of Americans have no church affiliation, up from 44% in the 1970s.

FACTS… about smaller churches:
* According to a 2003 study by the Barna Group, the typical American church has an average worship attendance of 89 adults.

* More than 60% of American Christians attend a church of this size.

* Of approximately 325,000 Protestant congregations in the United States (2001), and estimated 225,000, 69% have a weekly worship attendance of 125 or less.

* Only 12% of American adults attend a church of 1,000 or more.


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