ISSUE ARCHIVE

The experience across all denominations shows how critical establishing new congregations is to reaching new populations. The United Church of Christ (UCC) has embarked on an ambitious effort to start new congregations to increase their presence and witness among the growing populations in the United States. Some research into their past efforts is helping inform their future directions. In a report studying UCC new church starts over the past fifty years (1957- 2006), researchers found that 1139 new congregations joined UCC (new church starts and congregations affiliating with UCC) with 824 or 72 percent still active today. The survival rate is comparable to that of other denominations. Some other findings and conclusions include:

• After years of declining new church starts, in the last ten years the number of new churches has reached the same high level as the 1950s.
  
  
• More than 70 percent of new congregations formed in the past ten years are comprised primarily of people of color, reversing the pattern of ethnicity found in churches started during the first ten years of the study period.
  
  
• Decline in membership and finances in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s can be seen as a result of the failure to begin new churches.
  
  
• Despite recent high numbers of new church starts, there will need to be higher levels of such starts to show growth.
  
  
• These higher new church start levels will require existing vital congregations to get excited by and involved in congregation multiplication.

Click here to read the full report.

Generous Saints – A Book Worth Rediscovering

A book first published ten years ago seems particularly contemporary today as congregations are giving more careful attention to their own stewardship of financial resources. James Hudnut-Beumler, in Generous Saints: Congregations Rethinking Ethics and Money, brings together theological, ethical, and practical perspectives on how churches think about their assets. Building on the concept of the “commonwealth” of the congregation, the author addresses such specific issues as the church as landlord, holding wealth, and compensation practices of churches. The book is available at Amazon.com and at Cokesbury.com.

Leadership Issues Facing United Methodist Churches

The United Methodist magazine Interpreter asked Lewis Center Director Lovett H. Weems, Jr., to write a series of brief articles on issues facing leaders of the denomination’s congregations.  The first was published in the January-February 2009 issue, with the others featured on the magazine’s website.  To view the first article, “If Your Church Closed Today,” go to http://www.interpretermagazine.org/interior.asp?ptid=43&mid=13196.

Update is a monthly report to subscribers of Leading Ideas
on the work of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership.