Church Plants and Church Closures

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Church plants since 2000

According to responses from several denominations included in ‘Mission21 – A Report on Church Planting in the UK since 2000’, church planting is on the rise. The report, published in 2006 found that:

• Church of England planted 79 new churches (though further figures from the Fresh Expressions database could may mean the number is closer to 175);
• The Baptist Union of Great Britain planted 75;
• Methodist Church planted 60;
• Assemblies of God planted 46;
• The Redeemed Christian Church of God planted 37;
• Foursquare Gospel Church planted 15;
• The Brethren planted 9;
• The Salvation Army planted 10 between 2000 and 2002;
• New Frontiers planted 50 since the mid nineties;
• FIE 27 in the same period,
• and Church of Scotland 12.

The report says that “following a dip around the mid to late nineties there has since been a clear resurgence of church planting” and that “although overall numbers have been small it is clear that a great deal more thought has been given not just to what is being planted but the entire process including recruitment and selection of planters, training, coaching, resourcing and sustaining of new plants”.

From ‘Mission 21 – A Report on Church Planting in the UK since 2000’ by Alexander Campbell, published in 2006. To purchase the report go to www.togetherinmission.org.
Mission 21 is jointly sponsored by the Group for Evangelisation of Churches Together in England, Together in Mission and WY Bible Translators.
 

Fresh Expressions

According to statistics from the Research and Statistics Department of the Archbishops’ Council:

• 39% of Church of England churches have started a Fresh Expression (see below) of some kind – that is equivalent to 6,300 churches.
• A further 2,000 churches are ready to start one in the next couple of years, which means that half of all the 16,200 Church of England churches will have ventured into the Fresh Expressions initiative by 2008.

Fresh Expressions is a Church of England and Methodist Church initiative encouraging congregations to find new and different ways of being church in a changing culture.

Reported in the Church of England Newspaper, 16 February 2007.
 

Church closures

According to figures from the 2006 English Church Census, a total of 1,299 churches were closed in England from 1998 to 2005.

• Methodists closed the largest number with 264;
• Anglicans closed 123;
• United Reformed 112;
• Baptist Union 85,
• and independent churches put together closed 209.

According to these figures closures were marginally more than the number of new churches opened in the same period – 1,083; half of which were either black majority or Pentecostal, and 5% of which can be described as fresh expressions of church.

Reported in the Methodist Recorder, 2 March 2006.
 

Ministers’ self-perception

A study conducted by The Barn Group among American pastors shows seven intriguing insights about how ministers think of themselves and the churches they lead.

1. Many pastors struggle with personal relationships.
Being a spiritual leader of other people creates unusual relational dynamics and expectations. One of those areas is often a lost sense of connection with others:

• A majority of pastors (61%) admit that they "have few close friends."
• Also, one-sixth of today’s pastors feel under-appreciated.

Pastors also deal with family problems:

• One in every five contends that they are currently "dealing with a very difficult family situation."

2. Most pastors are supremely confident in their abilities to teach, make disciples and lead.
Pastors express the greatest degree of confidence in their capability as an "effective Bible teacher":

• 98% of pastors said this phrase accurately described them.
• More than nine out of every 10 pastors also feel that they are an "effective leader" and a similar proportion believe they are "driven by a clear sense of vision."
• More than eight out of 10 claim to be an "effective disciple maker."
• Another favourable perception maintained by pastors is that they are "deeply involved in the community" - a label embraced by seven out of 10 leaders.

3. Many pastors depict their personalities as shy and introverted.
Despite the interpersonal demands of congregational ministry:

• One-quarter of the nation’s Senior Pastors describe themselves as introverts (24%).
• This is the same proportion as in the adult population (25%) and suggests that church work is not merely for those drawn to the limelight.
• The research revealed that introverted leaders are more likely to feel under-appreciated in ministry and are more apt to feel relationally isolated.
• Those attending seminary, non-white pastors, mainline leaders, those in the Northeast, and leaders in their twenties and thirties were more likely than average to self-identify as introverted personality types.

4. Risk-taking drops off among pastors after 20-plus years in ministry.
Taking appropriate and calculated risks is an important competency among leaders and most pastors consider themselves to be "risk-takers." But the research shows that:

• The risk-taking impulse declines significantly after someone has been a pastor for 20 or more years.
• Pastors who have stayed at the same church for more than 20 years are particularly risk averse.

5. Despite portrayals of pastors being single-minded in their focus on ministry, most pastors feel they lead a balanced life.
Like many adults, pastors have difficulty putting good intentions into practice.

• But most pastors say they try hard to stay healthy and that they have a wide range of interests, even while dealing with an array of intense occupational pressures and expectations.

6. The age of the pastor often influences self-perceptions.
It seems as if both generational distinctions and life experience affect how pastors think of themselves.

• Boomer leaders (those ages 41-59) were most likely to say they have few close friends, but they were the least likely to feel under-appreciated.
• Older pastors (ages 60+) were the most likely to feel inadequately recognized for their efforts.
• Introversion was most common among Buster pastors (ages 22-40), but young leaders were also the most likely to perceive themselves as risk-takers. True to their friendship-oriented generational identity, Buster pastors were also the least likely to feel relationally isolated.

7. The largest gaps in self-perceptions were found between black and white pastors.
No differences were quite as vivid as those based upon pastoral ethnicity: out of 13 descriptions assessed in the research, significant differences were found among black and white pastors in reference to eight of them.

• Black pastors were more than three times more likely to describe their church as charismatic or Pentecostal and as theologically liberal.
• White leaders were less likely to describe themselves as effective disciple-makers, as risk-takers, or as being deeply involved in the community.
• Black pastors also had a different take on their interaction with others: they were more likely than white pastors to describe themselves as introverted and significantly more likely to feel under-appreciated.

The Pastor(S) was conducted telephone by The Barn Group among a nationally representative sample of 627 senior ministers of Protestant churches.

Reported in The Barn Update, 10 July 2006. Read the complete article on this report. 
To sign up for The Barn Update go to www.barna.org.