Thom Rainer offers his first seven predictions to be concluded on Saturday:___
1. Increased church acquisitions. Smaller churches will seek to be acquired by larger churches in increasing numbers.
2. Downsizing of denominational structures. Many denominational structures are becoming smaller because their churches are declining.
3. Decline in conversion growth. American churches that grow are more likely to get their growth at the expense of other churches.
4. More megachurches. The data are clear that there are more megachurches (average worship attendance of 2,000 or more) today than a year ago.
5. Greater number of churches moving to a unified worship style. For years a noticeable trend was churches offering different worship styles. In the next year we will we see a reversal of that trend, as many of those same churches decide to move to one common worship style.
6. Increased emphasis on high-expectation church membership. For decades American congregations as a whole lowered their expectations of church membership.
7. Increased challenges for congregations to build and acquire land due to restrictive governmental policies. American churches will experience more frustration with governmental authorities as they seek to expand, build, and acquire land.
___
The details of the post can be read here.
2 comments:
I can hardly wait (said somewhat sarcastically) for the next 7 points.
If you remove the references to churches from the 7 you listed, it reads almost as it if it were a prescription for the growth of any number of businesses in this country.
I noticed that was not a word about bringing people to Christ or fulfilling the mission of the church (hopefully those will be part of the 2nd 7 points).
Actually, point #3 predicted that churches (generally speaking) will not be bringing people to Christ.
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