Shawn Anderson

What Works for New Churches

New churches and traditional churches operate somewhat differently than established ones, according to a study conducted by The Ecumenical Partners in Outreach and The Center for Progressive Renewal. The study focused on 262 churches that have started since 2000.

The study had 8 main insights:

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED.The study revealed that pastors with organizational skills and traditional…

A new study conducted by the Pew Research Center revealed that racial diversity among various religious groups varies widely.

  The study, which included Christianity, Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu religions, scaled each denomination or religion on an index. A 10.0 would mean that each of the five racial groups (Hispanics, non-Hispanic whites, blacks, Asians and another category of other or mixed…

reblogged from Relevant

 We aren’t called to demand that secular culture reflect biblical principles.

“I like your Christ,” said Mahatma Gahndi, “but I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

There’s a billboard outside the city limits where I live. The canvas is white and in large black letters, it reads, “The fool has said in his heart there is no…

Restored and Remarried

an Interview with Gil and Brenda Stuart

(reblogged from Project Patch)

Every family is dysfunctional, some families get away with it while others can’t because more is required of them.  Blended families, single parent homes, homes with illness, homes with any kind of job loss or a host of the challenges requires the family to have a higher level of “family skills” than a…

A telephone survey of 1000 senior pastors by LifeWay Research in Protestant churches in America revealed that most of them are aware of domestic violence in their congregations, but 42% of them “rarely, if ever” address the issue.

In addition, the majority of pastors (52%) do not believe they have sufficient training to address situations of domestic violence.

Most pastors said that less than…

One of the largest studies on religious beliefs in American youth has just been released. It revealed that change in culture is strongly influencing lower religious involvement.

As the above figure illustrates, the gap between teens and their parents’ religious affiliation is widening. Since 2000, there has been a steep decline in religious “nones” (those that do not claim adherence to any…

Recently I co-taught a session at the Pepperdine Bible Lectures entitled, “Why You Should Not Plant a Church.” The title is a little tongue-in-cheek. We basically said one should not plant a church unless you are willing and able to face certain realities. There is nothing “sexy” about church planting.

Don’t plant a church unless:

You have spent a lot of time in prayer first.

God has clearly…

How Much Does it Cost Your Church to Reach One Person for Christ?

Shawn:

This article struck a chord with me. Thanks, Lane!

Originally posted on Lane Corley:

Got an interesting question that has me working the calculator this morning. How much money does it take to reach a person for Christ in the average SBC Church? So many factors could be thrown in to the equation here, but just some quick figuring in a few major population areas in Louisiana.

A sample of 66…

The Name Quest, by John Avery, is a well-written, exhaustively researched manuscript on the various names of God found in the Bible. Although Avery digs deep into the Scriptures, there is nothing stuffy or erudite about his approach. On the contrary, his prose is both personal and easy to digest.

Avery does more than simply regurgitate information. Because he focuses on the characteristics of God…

There is nothing easy about blending two families together. If there are kids involved, we don’t have the honeymoon period after the wedding to get to know each other. We say, “I do”, and BOOM—instant family. We are thrust into a new family with baggage, diverse personalities, and little time to keep the romance alive.

Are we doomed from the beginning? We can turn the proverbial lemons into…

State of Atheism in America

Barna Research just released a report entitled, “2015 State of Atheism in America.” The study interviewed 23,000 adults, of which 8,220 were unchurched. For the purposes of this study, Barna combined atheists and agnostics into one group and called this group, “skeptics.”

The research revealed that there have been some demographic shifts among skeptics in America over the past 20 years. Today:

Sk…

State of Churches in America

The church in America is in decline. According to research by Gallup, church attendance in the U.S. has fallen from 62 percent in 1994 to 53 percent in 2012, a 9% loss. One example is the Churches of Christ, which have declined by 9.8% since 1990.

Since 1990, the population in the U.S. has grown from 250 million to 320 million, an increase of 22%. If the U.S. population continues to grow at this…

Top Bible-Minded Cities in 2015

Each year, the Barna Group and the American Bible Society rank the top Bible-minded cities. The 100 largest cities are ranked according to their levels of Bible engagement. Bible-mindedness is determined by how often people read the Bible and how accurate they consider the Bible to be. The latest results are shown in the graphic below.

As you can see, the top five Bible-minded cities are in the…

What Attracts Millennials Most

What leadership trait attracts Millennials most? A sense of purpose. This is according to a recent study by Deloitte.

The study, which surveyed 7,800 Millennials across 29 countries, revealed that 6 out of 10 Millennials (those born between 1980 and 2000) said a sense of purpose was part of the reason they chose to work for their current employer.

  As far as the individual traits of leaders,…