The Burge Report: Are There Too Many Churches in the United States?

https://youtu.be/41k-7fpRFb0

There are between 350,000 and 400,000 churches in the United States. Is there really a church on every street corner? Ryan Burge joins Thom and Sam on this special episode to discuss the optimal number of churches in a community. The answer will likely surprise you.

“Churches Near Me” is the new way people find you. Few people pay attention to your sign anymore.

You are invisible to your community without an outward focus.

Distribution of churches is key: There are 356,000 religious congregations. That’s about 113 per county. There’s about 1 congregation for every 1000 Americans. For reference, there are 13,400 McDonalds and about 16,000 Starbucks.

Geography is key: Houses of worship are not tracking with population growth in certain areas of the country.

The counties that grew the fastest over the last ten years are the most likely to have a very high ratio of churches to people. In other words, they need more churches planted there.

A church on every street corner is a kingdom outpost for the gospel!

Resources:

Tithe.ly

2023 State of Church Giving

* “How Many Religious Congregations Are in Your County?” by Ryan Burge

Ryan Burge

“From Bible Belt to Sunbelt: Plain-Folk Religion, Grassroots Politics, and the Rise of Evangelical Conservatism” by Darren Dochuk (affiliate link)

* “How Much of Church Growth Is Based on Demographics? The Data Provides a Compelling and Clear Answer” by Ryan Burge

* The Everything Church Resource Directory

* The Hope Initiative

* Get your FREE tool! Attendance Growth Projector

Episode Sponsors:

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