The Associated Press released a notable story on the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) efforts to plant churches in New England. The SBC has spent roughly $5.5 million to plant churches in the northeast United States since 2002 and have another $800,000 already invested for this year. The report quotes Scott Thumma of Hartford Seminary to say that, in 2010, there were approximately 30,500 members New England. This is a 20% increase over the decade (a membership increase shared by the area’s Assemblies of God).
As a highly secular portion of the nation, New England is generally perceived as infertile soil for church planters thanks to a jaded non-believing populace. Indeed, Southern Baptist planters have dropped their usual moniker for the alternate label of “Great Commission Baptist” to avoid unnecessary cultural stigmas. Professor Thumma urged that Southern Baptists draw immigrants and new residents, but there is little indication of high success among natives, including the large Roman Catholic population. Nevertheless, as immigration continues throughout the United States, it seems the mission field is coming to New England whether “enlightened” secularists want it or not. Better times may yet await for evangelicals in America’s “least religious” region.
Liberal mainlines fail to exhibit such sacrificial attempts at growth in the once WASP-y New England hamlets. While the statistics for all the conferences were not available online, the United Church of Christ (UCC) does not seem to be performing well. The heirs of Congregationalism—a New England staple—the UCC mirrors the steep drops of their oldine compatriots in the available data. The Maine conference dropped from 23,982 members with 9,044 weekly attendants in 2001 to 18,858 members with 8,622 weekly attendants in 2011. Interestingly, the New Hampshire conference went from 27,836 members with an average 8,582 attendance to 21,482 members with an average 9,265 attendance. Average attendance in that conference seems to fluctuate quite drastically.
The 2012 New England Annual Conference for the United Methodist Church showed that membership stands at 93,658, down 2,209 from the previous year. Actual worship attendance is more revealing: 32,664, down 1,033 from the previous year.
The Episcopal Church’s 2011 numbers fir its New England dioceses seem slightly less anemic: 189,187 baptized members with a 56,316 average Sunday attendance (a 20 percent membership loss and 26.4% attendance drop over the decade).
In the coming decade, New England may be an area to watch for unexpected theological shifts. With the commitment of Southern Baptists and influx of immigrants, Christianity may once again bring light to the haunts of the Puritan forebears.
Comment by paynehollow on March 28, 2013 at 11:34 am
I hope you would agree with me that the purpose of following Christ is, well, following Christ, not numbers in your denomination?
Comment by sandytnaylor on March 28, 2013 at 11:39 am
There is some logic to this: people with the God instinct are everywhere, and in a thoroughly secularized region like New England, they may seem to be conforming to the general worldview, but naturally some of them will respond positively when they encounter real Christianity. I know the Southern Baptists get a lot of flack (including from the more snobbish type of evangelicals), but I applaud what they’re going. Some might call their program a waste of money, but surely it’s a better investment than a cathedral or mega-church or a preacher with his own private jet. New England must have some souls worth saving, so kudos to those who obey the Great Commission and see their own country as a mission field.
Comment by scottiegram on March 28, 2013 at 12:14 pm
The purpose of following Christ is to go out to all the world and spread the Gospel.
Comment by scottiegram on March 28, 2013 at 12:17 pm
My comment was in reply to paynehollow.
Comment by scottiegram on March 28, 2013 at 12:24 pm
We are seeing this happening in Northeast Pennsylvania. Members of our United Methodist Churches are being drawn to some of these start-up churches that seem to be tied to the Baptists somehow. They are coming in with monetary backing and programs in place that attract the younger families with many activities for their children. They have “contemporary” worship services and a great deal of enthusiasm that is a draw. People like the certainty of their message. Our United Methodist Churches are dwindling in membership. Our “ministry shares” continue to be paid with little or no return in programs or facilities for our youth. It looks like a slow death.
Comment by skotiad on March 28, 2013 at 12:25 pm
That is a false “either/or” (but consider the source…) If a church is truly “following Christ,” its numbers generally increase, because the members would have a contagious faith and would be inviting their friends and co-workers to church, and make the faith attractive enough that they would wish to. Of course, there has to be something more to it than “we have a really cool music program” or “our pastor is really laidback and has a great sense of humor.” The fact that the members are people whose lives are enhanced by their relationship with a loving God who is simultaneously Judge, Father, Savior, also best friend and true love – that does tend to attract some people. Salvation is a great thing, and it’s the one key thing the liberal churches do not offer. For them, there is nothing to be saved from, since they don’t believe in hell (or heaven either, as far as that goes) and there is no “sin” for individuals to repent of. Anyone who reads the posts on this website knows that the liberal religion is both comical and disgusting, an essentially Godless made-up religion that promises nothing except the glow of self-righteousness for showing up at some left-wing political protest. No one in a right relationship with the true God is going to find a spiritual home in those kind of churches.
I can understand liberals’ discomfort with the mention of “numbers,” so naturally they try to “spin” the data, as Diana Bass has done in all her recent books: we’re losing members, so that must mean we are true blue followers of Christ. No, actually it means your secular and political religion just doesn’t touch people’s hearts. And most people with a functioning brain figure out pretty quickly that their “church” is nothing but a gathering of stooges for the political left, a gaggle of “useful idiots,” to borrow a phrase the Communists used to refer to dimwitted liberals. A church without God just isn’t very attractive.
Comment by paynehollow on March 28, 2013 at 1:25 pm
Skotiad…
If a church is truly “following Christ,” its numbers generally increase
That’s a fine opinion, but do you have anything on which to base it?
If (when?) conservative churches dwindle down in the next 25 years (due, among other things, to their irrational and immoral position on marriage equity) and youth and others leave them in droves, will that be evidence that they are no longer following Christ?
Yes, of course, the early church had a time where its numbers increased, but there were also times where everyone abandoned it (or were killed off). Were they being faithless during those times of abandonment?
The anabaptists thrived for a while in Europe, but eventually – when the Catholics and Protestants both began to oppress them/kill them off – they dwindled down/escaped to safer climes. Is that evidence that the anabaptists were unfaithful? And that the oppressors (whose numbers were growing) were being faithful?
I repeat: Surely we agree that the purpose of following Christ is to follow Christ, not increase our denomination’s numbers? You’re saying that you don’t agree?
You say below…
The purpose of following Christ is to go out to all the world and spread the Gospel.
Spread the Good news that Jesus came to preach, right? Good news for the poor, release for the captives, healing for the sick, the day of God’s Jubilee… that Gospel, right? Then yes, that could be said to be A purpose of the church. I’d still maintain that the purpose of the church is to follow Christ, to be faithful to Christ, to love God and love people. And sometimes, that sort of love can be compelling and people want to join in with it. And sometimes, that sort of love can be a threat to the powers that be, and they want to kill it.
The point is, we’re not called not even one time in the Bible to “increase our numbers.” That would be a distortion of the Gospel, seeking human validation, rather than seeking God, would it not?
In Christ,
Dan
Comment by raybnnstr on March 28, 2013 at 8:08 pm
You don’t think the Great Commission, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” has a numerical component? You don’t think it was the intention of Christ and the apostles to grow the kingdom of God? I mean, the main idea was, you know, saving as many people as possible. You don’t think Christ is Savior, and you don’t think Christians have a duty to proclaim that good news? You always bring up “love people” – well, guess what? Salvation is a real LOVING thing. I give it a higher priority that jumping on the “marriage equality” bandwagon, but maybe you’ve had a divine private revelation that supersedes the words of Christ. I’ll take my chances with the Gospels, on the assumption that Matthew, Mark, et all knew the mind of Christ better than some bleeding-heart 21st-century posing as an “anabaptist.” I know one Anabaptist preacher (he uses capital A, maybe because he’s proud of who he is) who believes strongly in evangelism, but maybe the Anabaptists and anabaptists are two different sects. Btw, in the 2nd century, the theologian Tertullian penned the famous phrase “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.” Heroic martyrdoms tended to add new members. People are drawn to a faith that stands for something, not for some watered-down mealy-mouthed politics-posing-as-faith. No martyrs among those guys.
Not to worry, though. There is no danger of your curious version of Christianity either making converts or increasing in numbers. On the positive side, your presentation of it does make me appreciate the real thing. We need the false Christianities to make us appreciate the genuine article.
Just to settle that matter: NO, I mean real big NO, I do NOT agree with you that churches should not try to increase their membership. I can cite Christ on that. Who can you cite? If you claim to follow Christ, you would want other people to follow Christ. As Paul said, be “ambassadors for Christ,” calling people to discipleship. Maybe if you embraced Paul’s steely-spined, world-confronting faith you would see how empty this political religion really is.
Comment by paynehollow on March 28, 2013 at 11:11 pm
Ray…
You don’t think the Great Commission, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” has a numerical component? You don’t think it was the intention of Christ and the apostles to grow the kingdom of God?
Um, no. That is, No, I do not think that the so-called “great commission” (that phrase is a title applied extrabiblically to that passage, not in the Bible itself, as I’m sure you know) has a “numerical component…” Why do I not think so? Because it isn’t there.
As I understand it, the better translation from Greek is, “As you are going into this world, make disciples of people… teach them the things I taught you…”
That is not a “commission” for us to worry about the numbers of those following Christ.
Do I think God wants to “grow the kingdom” (again, not a biblical phrase)? I think God wants to invite all the lost to the great party (a much more biblical notion) but I don’t see in that any suggestion that we are to make watching numbers of followers a priority for us. We invite, God brings in. That’s God’s realm, not ours.
Beyond that, my point was that our job is to follow Christ (Christ’s teachings), not look to increase our numbers – and that sometimes those following Christ will have more people joining in and other times, there will be more people leaving. My point was that counting numbers is a poor way to gauge Godliness of a people.
Again, I would ask: If (when?) in a few years from now, young people have all but abandoned conservative churches and you become graying and dying, will that mean that conservative churches have been unfaithful?
There is nothing biblical about trying to make number games into a test of faithfulness. LIVES are a test of faithfulness, not numbers. Do they love well? Do they tend to the needs of the least of these? Are they preaching good news to the poor? Liberty for the captives? Healing for the sick? Are they respectful, peaceful, gracious? Do they work for justice? Those are measurements of fidelity, not “Do lots of people like them…”
Do you really disagree with that very Christian teaching?
Ray…
NO, I mean real big NO, I do NOT agree with you that churches should not try to increase their membership. I can cite Christ on that.
1. I did not say “churches should not increase their membership.” I said that it isn’t a test of our fidelity if our numbers aren’t high, that our responsibility is not “increasing numbers” but “being faithful.”
2. No, you can’t cite Christ on that. But feel free to try. Where does Christ say, “Go, increase the numbers in your church… don’t worry about faithfulness to my teachings, as long as you’re increasing numbers, that is the important thing…”?
Answer: He doesn’t. It simply isn’t in there.
Comment by sandytnaylor on March 30, 2013 at 8:50 am
Forgive my bluntness, but that has to be one of the stupidest things I ever read. You don’t think Christ wants the church to GROW?? How exactly do you follow the Lord’s command to “make disciples” without ADDING to the church? And, as a really ridiculous dodge, you claim the name “Great Commission” isn’t actually in the Bible. So what? The command “Go and make disciples” IS in the Bible, whether you call it Great Commission or not. It’s true that numbers aren’t the whole story, that the quality counts as well as quantity. But you can’t get quality disciples unless you actually get people in the pews, can you? Out of a hundred pew-fillers, maybe ten are really committed to their faith. Fine. I leave the sorting out to God at the end of time. In the meantime, the mandate still stands. “Go and make disciples.” The liberals don’t do that, they preach politics. People stay home. Not much going on when the pastor is spewing his liberal opinions instead of the gospel. I don’t need some egotistical clown telling me that “real Christians” oppose the Second Amendment or that the word “justice” in the Bible means God wants us to ordain lesbians.
I have seen some absurd justifications for liberal churches’ decline, but this takes the cake.
Btw, in Acts there are more than 20 positive references to “numbers” being added to the Christian fellowship. Did you have some mystic revelation that told you the author of Acts was wrong to mention the increase in numbers? Maybe Acts, with its emphasis on evangelism in every chapter, is unpleasant reading for the loser churches.
Comment by cleareyedtruthmeister on March 28, 2013 at 2:19 pm
I thought I would never join a Southern Baptist church…the 10 verse altar-calls, literalist interpretation of Scripture, etc. But here we are. And I was mistaken, at least as far as the church we are attending is concerned.
We left the UMC last year after I just could not stomach any more of left-wing politics being substituted for the Gospel. We have found that Southern Baptists are some of the most loving, genuine and committed Christians anywhere. They have gotten a bad rap by some, particularly in other areas of the country. Our pastor is both more orthodox and more intellectual than our previous UM pastor. So far we have been pleasantly surprised. Give the Southern Baptists a look if you are hungry for a theology that focuses on the Bible.
Comment by raybnnstr on March 28, 2013 at 7:52 pm
Good for you, cleareyed, although saying your SBC pastor is more intellectual than your UM pastor isn’t paying your Bapt guy much of a compliment. I did my time (catch the metaphor) in the godless (mainline) churches, and the more you know of their clergy, the less impressed you’ll be. Their seminaries teach them a handful of word strings, which enable them to impress the dimmer bulbs in the churches they serve. The irony is that the mainliners’ self-image is that they are Deep Intellectuals, but I’m betting that at the Final Accounting of things, among their many sins God will call them to account because they not only didn’t love Him with their whole minds, but turned their minds completely off. You could easily teach a mynah bird the word strings of your typical liberal pastor, and it would sure cost less to maintain him.
Comment by cleareyedtruthmeister on March 28, 2013 at 10:21 pm
What you say really resonates. After years of being in the UMC, since my college days, I found myself looking for a pastor who actually felt called by God to the ministry and was not on a “career track”…one who was a genuine, intelligent and authentic believer in orthodox Christianity and who actually studied and preached from the Bible
(as opposed to using it as a bait-and-switch to bring up some personal or political agenda…or worse, ignoring it altogether).
I have friends who are UM pastors, and they are fine people…but too many have lost their way and have been too influenced by theology schools that serve as little more than lefist indoctrination shops, liberal bishops, liberal church agencies, concerns about upward mobility in the denomination, worries about retirement, etc. etc.
Yes, I think you are right, modern liberalism has lost any real intellectual gravitas it may have once had, but too many people are stuck in old perceptions. The most intellectual theological work today is being done by conservatives, but, of course that is not the perception because leftists control the information sources that most people get their news and information from.
Comment by David Williams on March 29, 2013 at 6:08 pm
I would draw your attention to the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference (CCCC)., http://www.ccccusa.com, a thoroughly evangelical denomination, its strongest region is New England with over 100 churches. Park Street Congregational Church in Boston is a member of this group, along with Gordon-Conwell theologian David Wells. For the CCCC, New England is responding well to Bible-believing Congregationalism.
Comment by sandytnaylor on March 30, 2013 at 8:25 am
I’m quite familiar with the 4C, having been a member of a solidly evangelical UCC congregation that made the break from the UCC in 1993 and signed on with the 4C, a “divorce” that was welcome on both sides. I wish I had copies of our church’s correspondence with the UCC leadership, because the malice from that side was quite amazing. I wish the UCC would hold to “truth in advertising” and rename itself the United Church of the Culture, because it’s culture that rules that tribe, not Christ. I’ll take a small-but-growing church any time over a big-but-shrinking one.