Here’s the content from the Twitter thread Karl Vaters and Brady Shearer talked about on The Church Lobby episode 55.

(Scroll down for links to other material)

10 SURPRISING STATISTICS THAT PROVE CHURCH SIZE MATTERS

These figures come from Faith Communities Today and the largest survey of congregations ever conducted in the USA.

#1. The larger a congregation gets – and the faster it grows – the greater the decline in giving per person.

#2. The bigger a church gets, the less willing people are to volunteer.

#3. The smallest congregations (those with worship attendance of 100 or less) gave the most money per person.

#4. The smallest churches also had congregations that were the most likely to volunteer.

#5. Churches of 100 or fewer spent the least on staffing costs and gave the highest percentage of their budgets in support of missions and charity.

#6. 70% of all churches see 100 people or fewer in weekly attendance. But most people don’t go to these churches – 70% of church attendees go to churches of 250 or more.

#7. In the year 2000, just 12% of churches were multiracial. Today, it’s 25%.

#8. The diversity of a religious community strengthens it. Diversity correlates to increased growth, spiritual vitality, and a clearer sense of mission and purpose in these churches.

#9. A larger church correlates to a greater willingness to change, a clearer sense of mission and purpose, and increased use of technology.

#10. Larger congregations tend to have a more diverse and representative balance of all races and ages including more young people and a smaller percentage of older adults.

Links:

• Karl’s podcast with Brady
• Brady’s original Twitter thread
• The Faith Communities Today report