The State of the Church in Ohio 19902000

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The State of the Churchin Ohio1990-2000

• Dave Olson
• www.TheAmericanChurch.org

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This is a Sample Presentation Its purpose is
to give you an idea of what is happening to the
Christian church in Ohio, and what the complete
State of the Church in Ohio Powerpoint looks
like. The goal is to encourage pastors and church
lay leaders to view and discuss together the
missional challenges in Ohio that the Church
faces. The complete Powerpoint is 14.95 and is
available for immediate download at
http//www.theamericanchurch.org/state/UOH20.htm
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• In 1996,
• polls taken immediately after the Presidential
  election revealed that 58 of people claimed they
  had voted, when in reality only 49 actually did.
  This is called the Halo Effect. People tend to
  over-inflate their participation in activities
  that create acceptability within their social
  group.
• For many decades, pollsters such as Gallup and
  Barna have reported that around 45 of Americans
  attend church every Sunday. But there is a
  religious Halo Effect. Actual attendance counts
  have shown that the percentage of people
  attending church on any given weekend is much
  lower than was previously thought.

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• The Intent
• of this presentation is to answer and then expand
  on two key questions
  
• How Many People Really Attend Church in Ohio
  Every Week?
  
• Is the Christian Church Going Forwards or
  Backwards in Influence in Ohio?
  
• As the data is analyzed county by county
  assessing a number of factors, a comprehensive
  picture of the State of the Church in Ohio will
  begin to take shape.

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• This study
• uses weekend church attendance as a more reliable
  and more immediate snapshot of Christian
  influence than membership. The following map
  shows the percentage of the population attending
  a Christian church on any given weekend in all 50
  states in 2000. Ohio has an average church
  attendance percentage (20.3) close to the
  national average (18.7).

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• The Next Map
• shows the percentage of the population attending
  a Christian church on any given weekend in 2000
  for each county in Ohio.

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• The Next 2 Maps
• show the population numbers for each county in
  Ohio. The first map shows the population of each
  county. The second map shows the growth or
  decline in population for each county from 1990 -
  2000. Nineteen counties have declined in
  population over the last decade.

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Complete Presentation hasMap of 2000 Population
Growth for Each County
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• The Next 2 Slides
• show the ethnicity of Ohio in 1990 and 2000. The
  third slide shows the growth or decline in the
  percentage of the population for each ethnic
  group.

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Complete Presentation hasGraph of 2000 Ethnicity
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• The Next Graph
• shows the attendance numbers for the churches in
  Ohio in 1990 and 2000. Evangelicals have grown
  numerically over the last decade. Mainline and
  Catholic groups and total attendance have
  declined numerically. As population changes, a
  more reliable standard for evaluating increasing
  or declining influence is the percentage of the
  population attending church on any given weekend,
  shown in the second graph. This graph reflects a
  significant decrease in the percentage of the
  population attending church, with the exception
  of Evangelical churches which has remained
  constant.

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Complete Presentation hasGraph of 1990 2000
Worship Percentage by Category
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• The Next Graph
• is a Pie graph visualizing the percentage of the
  population at churches in each category in 2000.
  The Absent category indicates the percentage of
  the population that is not worshipping at a
  Christian church on any given weekend. The second
  graph shows the percentage gain or decline for
  each category in Ohio in 1990 and 2000.

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• The 2 Next Charts
• show the relative strength of the 8 major
  denominational groups in Ohio. Every group
  declined in percentage of the population
  attending except the Pentecostals.

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Complete Presentation hasPie Chart of 2000
Attendance by Denominational Families
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Complete Presentation hasBar Graph of 1990
2000 Attendance by Denominational Families
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• The Next Chart
• shows the 1990 2000 average church attendance
  by group for both this state and the nation. The
  second chart shows the 1990 2000 population per
  church for this state and the nation. Among
  states in 2000, Arkansas has the lowest
  population per church with 411 people per church,
  Utah is the highest at 4,586 people per church.

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Complete Presentation hasBar Graph of 1990
2000 Population per Church for State and Nation
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• The Next 3 Maps
• show the attendance percentages for the
  Evangelical, Catholic and Mainline churches in
  each county in Ohio in 2000.

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Complete Presentation hasState Map of 2000
Evangelical Attendance Percentage for each
County
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Complete Presentation hasState Map of 2000
Mainline Attendance Percentage for each County
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• The Next Map
• shows the growth or decline in the percentage of
  the population attending a Christian church on
  any given weekend from 1990 to 2000 for each
  county. 13 counties grew in attendance
  percentage, while 75 counties declined.

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Complete Presentation hasState Map of 1990 -
2000 Christian Church Attendance Percentage
Increase or Declinefor each County
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• The Next 3 Maps
• show the growth or decline of attendance
  percentages for the Evangelical, Catholic and
  Mainline churches in each county in Ohio between
  1990 and 2000. For evangelicals, 42 counties grew
  in attendance percentage, while 46 counties
  declined. For Mainline churches, 2 counties grew
  in attendance percentage, while 86 counties
  declined. For Catholics, 13 counties grew in
  attendance percentage, while 75 counties
  declined.

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Complete Presentation hasState Map of 1990 -
2000 Evangelical Attendance Percentage Increase
or Declinefor each County
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Complete Presentation hasState Map of 1990 -
2000 Mainline Attendance Percentage Increase or
Declinefor each County
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• The Final Chart
• shows the net gain in the number of churches in
  Ohio in the past decade. There was a net loss of
  207 churches. However, 607 churches were needed
  to keep up with population growth in Ohio from
  1990 - 2000.

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The State of the Church in Ohio . . .

• With the exception of Evangelical churches,
  church attendance has fallen numerically in Ohio.
  As a result of population growth, the percentage
  of the population attending church has decreased
  in all categories except Evangelicals, resulting
  in a significant 9.9 loss in the state-wide
  percentage of the population that attended church
  between 1990 and 2000.
• A major factor in the overall decline is the net
  loss in the number of churches in Ohio. Eight
  hundred and fourteen additional churches needed
  to have been started in the previous decade to
  compensate for the decline in percentage
  attendance.

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For More Information . . .

• Please go to www.theamericanchurch.org for
  additional information on the American Church.
  
• 12 Surprising Facts about the American Church is
  available at http//www.theamericanchurch.org/12su
  pm.htm
  
• The complete Ohio Powerpoint presentation is
  available at http//www.theamericanchurch.org/stat
  e/UOH20.htm
  
• The Complete Cleveland Powerpoint presentation is
  available at http//www.theamericanchurch.org/metr
  o/Cleveland.htm
  
• The Complete Columbus Powerpoint presentation is
  available at http//www.theamericanchurch.org/metr
  o/Columbus.htm
  
• The Complete Cincinnati Powerpoint presentation
  is available at http//www.theamericanchurch.org/m
  etro/Cincinnati.htm
  
• The Complete Akron Powerpoint presentation is
  available at http//www.theamericanchurch.org/metr
  o/Akron.htm
  
• The complete Ohio Combo Pack is available at
  http//www.theamericanchurch.org/combo/OH0.htm
  

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Information on the Information

• The spiritual health of churches is multifaceted,
  and is obviously much more complex than an
  attendance trend can portray. However, following
  the example of St. Luke in the Book of Acts, who
  used the number of people who showed up at
  various events as a sign documenting the health
  and growth of the early church, I would suggest
  that attendance is the single most helpful
  indicator of health, growth and decline.
• Information has been compiled only for orthodox
  Christian groups Protestant, Catholic and
  Orthodox. The Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses,
  Unitarian-Universalists and the International
  Churches of Christ have not been included. In
  addition, information about non-Christian groups
  has not been compiled.
• African American denominations publish very
  little that is statistical often not even a
  list of current churches. This study used data
  from the 1990 Glenmary study on Black Baptist
  estimates and AME Zion churches, the average
  African American worship attendance (from the
  Barna Research Group), and a statistical model
  based on the population of African Americans in
  each county in 1990 and 2000. These were combined
  to come up with as accurate an estimate as
  possible.
• Independent church data is almost impossible to
  obtain. (There are actually fewer totally
  independent churches than is assumed. Most are
  part of some voluntary association, which
  typically keeps some records.) Data from the 1990
  2000 Glenmary study on larger Independent
  churches (limited to over 300 in attendance) was
  used along with a statistical model to estimate
  the attendance at smaller independent churches.
• In Catholic churches, the definition of what
  constitutes membership varies with diocese and
  church, making numbers sometimes inconsistent
  from state to state and county to county. In
  addition to actual mass counts from 1/3rd of
  Catholic parishes, membership information has
  been merged with attendance patterns from similar
  dioceses based on the size of the diocese and the
  region in which it is located.
• Orthodox Churches are included in Totals, but not
  included as a separate group because of smallness
  of size nationwide. Division into Evangelical and
  Mainline categories is based on the division by
  the Glenmary Study.
• This study only looks at how many people attend a
  Christian church on any given Sunday. The term
  regular attender can be designated to mean
  someone who attends a Christian church on a
  consistent basis. Using a simple definition for
  regular attender (attends at least 3 out of
  every 8 Sundays), between 23 and 25 of
  Americans would fit this category. Adding
  regular attenders of non-orthodox christian
  churches and other religions to the totals would
  increase the percentage to 26 28.

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• This Presentation
• is based on a nationwide study of American
  church attendance, as reported by churches and
  denominations. The database currently has average
  worship attendances for each of the last 10 years
  for over 170,000 individual churches.
• It also uses supplementary information (actual
  membership numbers correlated with accurate
  membership to attendance ratios) to project the
  attendances of all other denominational and
  independent churches. All told, accurate
  information is provided for all 300,000 orthodox
  Christian churches.1
• 1 This presentation looks only at people
  attending orthodox Christian churches.
  Approximately 3 million people attend
  non-orthodox Christian churches, and perhaps 3
  million attend a religious service of another
  religion. Those houses of worship would add
  another 35,000 churches in the United States and
  increase the 2000 percentage to 20.5.

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For More Information . . .

• Presentations such as this are available for the
  largest 100 metropolitan areas, for each state
  and for the nation as a whole, as well as other
  presentations to show what is happening in the
  American church. Presentations are available
  either by direct download, CD or print. Please go
  to www.theamericanchurch.org for ordering
  information.
• To Contact Dave Olson, please email him at
  DaveTOlson_at_aol.com.