Why Plant Churches

“Results of a DAWN project in England found that … ‘those churches planted since 1989 had grown an average of 75% per year!  By contrast churches established prior to that date averaged six percent growth per year!  In other words new church plants were growing 12 times as fast as established churches!” Jim Montgomery, Then the End Will Come, pg. 28

The church to population ratio is declining: 

• In 1900, there were 27 churches for every 10,000 Americans
• In 1950, there were 17 churches for every 10,000 Americans
• In 1996, there were 11 churches for every 10,000 Americans

(George Gallup, Church in the World Today)

Each year 3,500 to 4,000 churches close their doors for the last time.  Only 1,100 to 1,500 are started each year.  In other words, we lose 72.11 churches per week or 10.27 per day while gaining oly 24.03 per week or 3.42 per day.” America Society for Church Growth

“North America is the ONLY continent where Christianity is not growing!  Out of the 350,000 churches in America:

• 80% have reached a plateau or are declining.
• 15% are growing because of transfer growth.
• 5% are growing because of conversion growth.”  The Barna Group

Percentage of population attending a Christian church on any given weekend in 2005: Evangelical=9.1%, Mainline=3.0%, Catholic=5.3%, Total=17.5% — Less than 1 in 5 people attending church on any given Sunday in the United States in 2005. (Dave Olson, The American Church in Crisis, pg. 29)

See also Tim Keller’s Article, Why Plant Churches