i think decline is in part linked to inconvenience or out better things to do for those attendees leaving the body. 30 years ago the average church-goer attended 57 sundays in a year that has dropped to 24 a year which breaks down to 1 or 2 weekends a month.

while i’m new, in the term of working for a church, i do believe the decline is based on a imbalance or misalignment.

there are multiple ways to think about alignment. but i like to talk about it with a photographers mentality; a tripod. a tripod is a three-legged object, generally one used as a platform, if one leg is of balance you platform is unbalanced. while this was something i used in the corp world, it applies perfectly to the church.

The three legs are (1) Message, (2) Medium, (3) Market and while the order maybe different in each organization they all must be aligned or the message, medium, or market distract. this is the point i think most churches and organizations go wrong; they don’t keep a laser focus of unity and balance in their overall brand.

with all of this here is some food for thought, i found out last week the fastest-growing edge of the assemblies of god is among young people. “in the past 10 years, the 13-18 age group in our churches has grown from about 250,000 to more than 370,000—an increase of about 50 percent. In fact, 1.1 million of our 2.8 million adherents are under the age of 25.”

why? it’s generational. generations are not changing any more after several decades, but rather every 10 years. millennial’s or y generation are most optimistic generation since the greatest generation they dream and have big aspirations, but are grounded. the biggest catch phrase from the generation is “keep it real.” they don’t like fluff or but rather the truth, the truth in the gospel and while i believe churches are experiencing the growth in younger gens.

what do you think?

peace,
-matt

Stop by and take look at my blog! http://www.mattknisely.com

and about those traditional churches-been there done that. i was raised amish and trust me the only reason those churches grow is, yes kyle p., having large families is very encouraged and they literally convince you that if you leave their denomination you will def go to hell. i’ve always wondered if they mispelled denominations when they were first created, how about demoninations? hee, hee just kidding! on a serious note though, i would encourage everyone to read the book called The Heavenly Man, you wont regret it.
buy it here-

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/082546207X/ref=dp_olp_2/104-5089350-7337555

I think you might be over generalizing.

What defines a “mega church”?

Although I do agree that mega churches can be breeding grounds for bad theology, there are plenty of small churches out there that also teach terrible theology.

Mike

I think there’s a multitude of reasons churches don’t grow, but a huge one is that they don’t plant enough new churches.

The appeal of the other world religions you mentioned is that they either have a high evangelism value (LDS) or a high cultural value (Buddhism, Islam, Hindu). The modern evangelical church is mostly made up of middle class white Americans (a shrinking margin of the population in America).

This is why “missiology” (gaining a missionaries mind and heart) in America right now is so important!