The fastest-growing Presbyterian churches exhibit an outstanding ability to reach out to their members, potential worshipers, and people in need. Think of these churches as having more tentacles than the most gregarious octopus! Comparing growing PC(USA) congregations to a random sample of PC(USA) churches reveals the reach of their tentacles. More growing churches than others […]

One United Methodist pastor tells a church member who was formerly a Baptist, “It’s okay! I was raised a Baptist too!” How common is it for pastors to grow up in a different denomination or faith tradition than the church where they preach each Sunday? More common than you might think. Protestant pastors are switchers. Almost […]

On the surface, growing PC(USA) congregations have two things going for them. Growing churches: Are bigger than the typical Presbyterian church. The median size of the denomination’s fastest-growing churches is 150 (based on average worship attendance). That is twice the size of other Presbyterian churches—their median worship attendance is 78. Receive more in contributions and have larger budgets, which […]

Presbyterians like many kinds of worship music, but traditional hymns sit at the top of their charts. The strength of that preference is somewhat different for worshipers in the typical PC(USA) congregation compared to worshipers in newer churches (those founded since 1990). First choice: Traditional hymns. As the chart below illustrates, three out of four Presbyterians […]

In the past decade, religious communities have embraced electronic communication in a big way. As the latest report from Faith Communities Today (FACT) by Scott Thumma indicates—“The use of both websites and email by congregations has more than doubled in the past decade.” One of the surprising results is congregational use of Facebook (over 40% of the congregations in […]

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) attracts new worshipers to both existing churches and new churches. Are worshipers in new churches pretty much like Presbyterian worshipers who attend other congregations? Or are they different? We had the chance to survey about 7,500 worshipers who attend new Presbyterian churches, those founded in the past 20 years. These new […]

In vital places of worship, people have a strong sense of belonging to the congregation. Yet we found that this aspect of congregational life seemed to diminish between 2001 and 2008. Is that important? We believe it is. Congregations with a healthy heart touch worshipers’ feelings. When worshipers have a strong sense of belonging to […]

A change in pastors can result in positive outcomes. We identified ten aspects of vitality in our research on congregations. These ten strengths were measured in our national study of congregations, including those churches and parishes that participated in 2001 and again in 2008. Did these congregations become stronger or more vital over time? About […]

Sometimes pastors leave a congregation because of conflict. What is the conflict about? One out of three pastors whose church had experienced conflict in the past two years reported leadership style as a source of conflict. But other disagreements erupt into conflict around church finances, changes in worship services, or renovating or building new facilities. […]

Pastors serve a congregation, on average, about five years before leaving for another call. The amount of time pastors remain in any single position varies greatly by their denominational affiliation, career stage, theological training, and church setting. Because the U.S. Congregational Life Survey included congregations that participated in the national study in 2001 and again […]