New Church Planting Strategy Needed (August Posting Challenge)
Thirty percent of our community is under the age of 18. A pastor from a nearby town told me that his town's only growing population is over 55 and that he would kill for the demographics of our town.
The reason he would kill for this demographic is that the normal church growth and church planting strategy involves reaching young families.
But that won't work anymore.
Why? Because the birthrate in the United States has been falling for the last 30 years. The CDC says that the current birthrate in the US is 1.72. Thirty years ago, the birthrate was 3.25.
Falling birthrates affect a lot of things. Public schools will have fewer and fewer students and their funding will fall along with enrollment. Colleges are competing for fewer students every year. And there are fewer young families for churches to reach.
VBS and kids programs cannot be the draw when there are fewer people in the community that is relevant for. So church planting and church revitalization needs to begin to think what it looks like to start and grow churches when there aren't as many young families to start with.
If you pastor in a town where the only population that is growing is older, then you need to be aware of that and begin to think through what it means for your church to reach, disciple, and engage older adults.
This trend won't change for a while, if ever. So churches and leaders need to begin paying attention to it.
The reason he would kill for this demographic is that the normal church growth and church planting strategy involves reaching young families.
But that won't work anymore.
Why? Because the birthrate in the United States has been falling for the last 30 years. The CDC says that the current birthrate in the US is 1.72. Thirty years ago, the birthrate was 3.25.
Falling birthrates affect a lot of things. Public schools will have fewer and fewer students and their funding will fall along with enrollment. Colleges are competing for fewer students every year. And there are fewer young families for churches to reach.
VBS and kids programs cannot be the draw when there are fewer people in the community that is relevant for. So church planting and church revitalization needs to begin to think what it looks like to start and grow churches when there aren't as many young families to start with.
If you pastor in a town where the only population that is growing is older, then you need to be aware of that and begin to think through what it means for your church to reach, disciple, and engage older adults.
This trend won't change for a while, if ever. So churches and leaders need to begin paying attention to it.
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