BY: Dr. John David Smith
BMA Missions
bmamissions.org

We know that it is possible to make statistics say just about anything. The facts about the current condition of American churches has been debated over and over with differing conclusions. One fact that seems to be true is that the United States of America is the only country in the world where Christianity is not growing on a percentage basis. This is bad news overall. However, the other side of that fact is that in 1940 a Gallup poll indicated that 37 percent of Americans attended church each week; in 2015, 36 percent of Americans said they attended at least once a week. So, while it is not growing on a percentage basis, the bottom has not dropped out either. There are some clear trends in American church reality such as: mainline denominations are in full decline while the non-denominational conservative evangelical churches are showing the greatest growth. Along with this shift, there is also cause for concern about the number of college and post-college aged Americans leaving the faith of their upbringing. 

In the Baptist Missionary Association (BMA) of America we have our own trends that are concerning. The average attendance in a BMA church is 71, which is actually almost spot on with the national average of Baptist churches. However, the median attendance is closer to 42. Certainly the biblical marks of a New Testament church need to guide the process for revitalization in many of our churches. Activate, which is based on twelve biblical principles, is the church revitalization initiative of BMA Missions. We are thankful for Larry Barker and his leadership of Activate, along with Heidi Sorrells, who provides another set of hands and feet for the ministry. This issue is dedicated to church revitalization…there is “Hope for the American Church.”