The Great Opportunity
To Make Disciples Who Make Disciples
Have you ever wondered why your pastor is trying so hard to create a discipling culture in your church?
It’s because they are committed to equipping ordinary believers for works of ministry (Eph 4:10-12), and this shift is desperately needed. Yet, this invitation has become counter-cultural to the broader church landscape and now requires swimming against the current.
To be clear, we don’t exist to be another small group curriculum. We don’t push a church product or have any sales goals.
We’re a movement of disciple-making that exists to support local churches and pastors through a grassroots effort of ordinary men and women becoming disciples who make disciples.
The need for a disciple-making movement through the local church is becoming more urgent than ever.
The urgency is high because.....
Independent research on discipleship is showing that despite growth in isolated churches or small networks, broadly, we are here:
Fewer than 5% of U.S. churches have a reproducing disciple-making culture.
No U.S. churches were found to show characteristics of viral-like disciple-making movements.
Only 17% of the church knows what The Great Commission is and what it means.
Further independent research on the Church has found:
The current wave of de-churching in America exceeds past revivals and crusades, with 40 million Americans leaving the church in the last 25-30 years.
Every year, about 4,000 churches are planted in the U.S. And every year, about 3,700 churches close.
"Last year 3,700 churches closed permanently.
We anticipate that number will grow to at least 5,500 per year over the next 30 years. In total we anticipate 176,000 churches will close between today and 2050. This forecast is based on a few forces at work. First, the best research available indicates that the average lifespan of a church is 80 to 120 years from founding to closure. The churches that survive and thrive over 100 years are the exception rather than the norm. Second, 50 to 70 years ago there was a significant wave of church planting that took place post World War II. From 1940 to 1970 there was a 100 percent increase in the number of new church plants compared to the previous 30-year span, 1910 to 1940. Churches on the front end of that wave of planting in the ‘40s are now approaching 80 years old. Today, the average evangelical congregation is 64 years old and the average mainline congregation is 105 years old. Due to the predictable average church life cycle, the church closure rate can be expected to increase by an average of at least 50 percent for the next 30 years, to an overall average over the next 30 years of 5,500 per year. That is an increase of almost 2,000 closures per year above the current rate.
At this time here is the base (neither worse or best) case scenario for the Church in the USA by the year 2050.
35 million
Youth raised in Christian homes will disaffiliate from Christianity, which is over one million per year.
73% to 59%
The overall Christian percentage of the population will drop to 59 percent, from today’s 73 percent.
50 million
The unaffiliated population will nearly double as a percentage of the U.S. population, from 17 percent today to 30 percent in 2050, an increase of more than 50 million people."
That is the base case, and it could easily be much worse.
But it's only a trajectory based on current actions, meaning if we, as the Church, shift gears, then it doesn't have to be our future outcome.
Some great resources for stats: State of Discipleship & State of Church
To be absolutely clear, there is growth happening in churches and in certain networks, and there are many churches working hard to change the narrative. Yet, based on the cumulative data, we can see our country desperately needs a revitalization of disciple-making and must do so with urgent action if we are to change the Church-wide course.
The Solution We're Bringing
There is good news.
Despite all the concerns found from the research on the state of the church and discipleship, that is, course correction is definitely within reach. We can turn the tide through tripling church planting efforts, warring against consumerism, bringing the church back to its first love and mission, and through intentional discipleship.
We believe the most effective means to revive the church is through making disciples who make disciples.
When done, all else follows.
We do this strategically through inviting ordinary men and women to grow in intimacy with Jesus, through intentional relationships, and in multiplication.
As a result, we've already seen our movement grow to hundreds of men and women who have grown spiritually.
And this is just the beginning, but the urgency is high.
Will you join us?
Here how you can begin today:
Other ways to engage: