In the midst of the decline of mainline denominations and the rise of
the “nones” in the U.S. something surprising is happening.[i] Church
planting is booming. According to Ed Stetzer and Dave Travis, the number of new
churches started annually jumped from approximately 1500 in the late
1900s to 4000 by 2006.[ii] Such a spike is not only the greatest surge
in church planting in the last century but Warren Bird claims it has
yielded such a flurry of planting that the number of churches opened
annually has outpaced church closures—a much more discussed and visible
reality.[iii] This rising phenomenon calls for sociological study, not
only to describe and explain its occurrence, but also to understand the
factors influencing the vitality of these new congregations.
I have contributed to this needed area of study by seeking to bring
insights from organizational and religious ecology perspectives to
understanding the influences upon the vitality of new congregations and
their networks. An organizational ecology approach “focuses on the
influences of the characteristics of organizations and of the demography
and ecology of the populations in which they operate.” [iv] Thus it
explores not only the impact of internal factors such as the church’s
attributes, but also of external ones, such as the existence and
characteristics of other churches. Animating this study, then, is the
question: What are the most relevant ecological factors impacting the
vitality of new congregations and church planting initiatives in the
U.S.?
In the final section, I employ the most relevant
theories toward an analysis of Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO), a
new church planting initiative on the West Coast of the United States.
Based on the factors identified as pertinent to new congregations
generally, I highlight some of the features of C4SO that promise to
be either liabilities or assets.
My article, originally published in Witness: Journal of the Academy for Evangelism in Theological Education, v. 27 is available in its entirety here.
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[i]
Mark Chaves, “All Creatures Great and Small: Megachurches in Context,”
Review of Religious Research, 47(4) (2006), 329-346; Michael Hout and
Claude Fischer, “Why More Americans Have No Religious Preference:
Politics and Generations,” American Sociological Review, 67(2)(2002),
165-190.
[ii] Ed Stetzer and Dave Travis, “Who Starts New Churches?: State of Church Planting USA” (Leadership Network, 2011), 2.
[iii] Warren Bird, Warren, “More Churches Opened Than Closed in 2006,” Rev Magazine (August 2007), 68.
[iv]
Michael Hannan, “Ecologies of Organizations: Diversity and Identity,”
The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(1) (2005), 54.
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