Last month, an Ohio State University press release highlighted research about how parents’ divorce hurts teens in different ways depending on race and ethnic groups. According to the research, parental divorce or separation hurts Asian American and Caucasian teens the most followed by African American teens and then Hispanic teens.
How Divorce Affects Them
- Asian American Teens
Before divorce, they and Caucasian teens are accustomed to the most advantages in terms of parental resources and well-being. After divorce, Asian American teens were most bothered by the fewer social resources (talking to their parents and spending time with them). Economic resources may not be a factor because Asian American families tend to do well economically.
- Caucasian Teens
As stated above, these teen are accustomed to many advantages before divorce. After divorce, they were equally bothered by the shortages of economic and social resources.
- African American Teens
Before divorce, African American teens were better off in terms of parental resources and well-being than Hispanic teens. After divorce, they were most bothered by the fewer economic resources.
- Hispanic Teens
According to OSU sociology professor Yongmin Sun, “In this study, Hispanics started off with a large number of difficulties and disadvantages in their lives. When that’s the case, family crises like divorce may not add much to the original problems.”
Just because divorce is more common in an ethnic or racial group, it doesn’t necessarily make it easier for children who are going through such a family disruption.
- Yongmin Sun :: associate professor of sociology :: Ohio State University
In other words, the prevalence of divorce in a culture does not affect how much it hurts. Just because “everyone” is getting divorced, does not condition us and make it easier for us to accept divorce. Parental divorce hurts teenagers. As for how much it hurts, it seems dependent on how drastically divorce alters a teen’s way of life with his family.
[via Iconoculture & Ypulse]
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 14% of all U.S. residents moved between 2005 and 2006. In other words, 14% of your church congregation likely moved during this time.
62% of these movers stayed within the same county, making it possible to still be reached by the same churches, but at least 37% moved further away. Obviously, residents moving influences a church’s ability to reach them, but the extent that transitioning residents affects your church largely depends on the makeup of the community that you are called to reach.
For instance,
- Renters are 4 times more likely to move than homeowners (30% vs 7%).
- The West had the highest moving rate (16%), followed by the South (15%), the Midwest (13%) and the Northeast (10%).
- Hispanics had the highest moving rate (18%), followed by blacks (17%), Asians (14%) and non-Hispanic whites (12%).
The better that you understand your community, the better that you will understand the unique challenges you’ll face in reaching them.
Cory Miller at Church Communications Pro has a special coupon code that allows you to download Granger Community Church’s church communications bundle for free from WiredChurches.com.
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A recent study by The Barna Group researched the spirituality of teens as well as what they want and learn from church. Here is what they discovered:
In a typical week,
- 72% of teens pray
- 48% attend a worship service at a church
- 35% attend Sunday school
- 33% attend youth group
- 32% participate in a small group
- 31% read the Bible
What teens expect at church:
- 45% of teens expect “to worship or make a connection with God”
- 42% expect “to better understand what I believe”
- 34% expect “to spend time with close friends”
- 34% expect “to get encouraged or inspired”
- 30% expect “to volunteer or help others”
What teens prefer for church:
- 39% of teens prefer a church that teaches how their faith should influence everyday decisions and lifestyle
- 16% prefer a church that teaches the traditions and background of their faith
- 45% do not care
What topics taught at church shaped teens’ views in the last 12 months:
- 65% said moral and ethical standards
- 62% relationships
- 55% faith traditions
- 50% evangelism
- 35% media, movies, and television
- 30% money and finances
- 28% the supernatural world
- 27% leisure activities
- 26% government and law
- 22% art and music
- 21% health issues
- 9% technology
Overall, the research is not surprising. Sadly, it affirms that a large portion of teens just don’t care. It is not that they simply just don’t care about the teaching style; the low levels of weekly spiritual commitment also prove that they don’t care enough to invest their time into spiritual things.
Obviously, hearing God’s Word is not enough to transform many teenagers into being doers of God’s Word. So what is needed to engage these teenagers in a way that causes them to start caring enough to do God’s Word? I believe that meaningful relationships are the key. The measure of your relationship with teenagers directly affects the measure of the influence you have with them. And your influence can dramatically shape how they live their lives.
Outreach magazine has corrected the missorted rankings from 2007′s 100 Fastest-Growing Churches in America list and have even added one more church to make it the 101 Fastest-Growing U.S. Churches of 2007.
Here are the top 40:
- Iglesia Cristiana Segadores de Vida (Hollywood, FL) :: Ruddy Gracia
- Community of Faith (Cypress, TX) :: Mark Shook
- Valley Bible Fellowship (Bakersfield, CA) :: Ron Vietti
- Community Christian Church (Naperville, IL) :: Dave Ferguson
- The Richmond Outreach Center (Richmond, VA) :: Geronimo Aguilar
- New Life Church (Conway, AR) :: Rick Bezet
- Living Hope Church (Vancouver, WA) :: John Bishop
- Elevation Church (Charlotte, NC) :: Steven Furtick
- Thomas Road Baptist Church (Lynchburg, VA) :: Jonathan Falwell
- Flamingo Road Church (Cooper City, FL) :: Troy Gramling
- The Church at Brook Hills (Birmingham, AL) :: David Platt
- Heartland Community Church (Rockford, IL) :: Mark Bankord
- Real Life Ministries (Post Falls, ID) :: Jim Putman
- Church of the Highlands (Birmingham, AL) :: Chris Hodges
- Fellowship Church (Grapevine, TX) :: Ed Young Jr.
- Westside Family Church (Lenexa, KS) :: Dan Chaverin
- Calvary Church (Charlotte, NC) :: John Munroe
- NewSpring Community Church (Anderson, SC) :: Perry Noble
- Bayside Covenant Church (Granite Bay, CA) :: Ray Johnston
- Central Christian Church (Henderson, NV) :: Jud Wilhite
- Woodside Bible Church (Troy, MI) :: Doug Schmidt
- Trinity Evangelical Free Church (Redlands, CA) :: Gary Inrig
- Mars Hill Church (Seattle, WA) :: Mark Driscoll
- Calvary Community Church (Phoenix, AZ) :: J. Mark Martin
- Redemption World Outreach Center (Greenville, SC) :: Ron Carpenter
- Jubilee Christian Church (Boston, MA) :: Gilbert Thompson
- Fellowship of the Woodlands (The Woodlands, TX) :: Kerry Shook
- EastLake Community Church (Kirkland, WA) :: Ryan Meeks
- Voices of Faith Ministries (Stone Mountain, GA) :: Gary Hawkins
- The Potter’s House (Dallas, TX) :: T.D. Jakes
- LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK) :: Craig Groeschel
- Kensington Community Church (Troy, MI) :: Steve Andrews
- Westover Hills Assembly of God (San Antonio, TX) :: Jim Rion
- The Oasis Church (Loganville, GA) :: Troy Shaw
- Celebration Church (Jacksonville, FL) :: Stovall Weems
- Trinity Chapel (Powder Springs, GA) :: Jim Bolin
- Champions Centre (Tacoma, WA) :: Kevin Gerald
- Crossroads Community Church (Cincinnati, OH) :: Brian Tome
- Grace Family Church (Lutz, FL) :: Craig Altman
- Community Bible Church (Stockbridge, GA) :: Beau Adams
To be considered for the list, a church must have:
- Grown by at least 500 people in weekly attendance from ’06-’07
- Averaged over 1000 people in weekly attendance in ’07
- Grown by a measurable percentage between ’06-’07 (usually 10%+ growth)
Churches meeting these criteria were ranked by numerical growth and then by percentage growth, and the average of the two ranks determined their final ranking. Each church was responsible for self-reporting their numbers, and consequently, some churches may not be included if they chose not to participate.
To see the rankings, numerical growth, and percentage growth of all 101 churches, view the PDF of the list on Outreach magazine’s website.
I have updated Church Relevance’s churches to watch list with this list.
Last week, Outreach magazine’s special issue featuring lists of the 100 Largest U.S. Churches and the 100 Fastest-Growing U.S. Churches showed up in thousands of mailboxes. Unfortunately, the fastest-growing churches list was wrong.
A database was missorted, and no one caught the mistake until it is immortalized in ink and on the Web.
When I highlighted the list last week, I noted that it did not make sense. Some churches with less numerical and percentage growth were ranked higher than churches that had more growth in both areas.
The formula itself was not bad.
To be considered for the list, a church must have:
- Grown by at least 500 people in weekly attendance from ’06-’07
- Averaged over 1000 people in weekly attendance in ’07
- Grown by a measurable percentage between ’06-’07 (usually 10%+ growth)
Churches meeting the above criteria were ranked by numerical growth and then by percentage growth, and the average of the two ranks determined their final ranking.
The research was accurate, but obviously the rankings did not make sense when their order in the database was mistakenly resorted.
Oops!
Hopefully, this blunder will help pave the way to more accurate lists in the future, as I am sure that editors will be even more deliberate when proofing their work.
Outreach magazine will be republishing the list with the correct data soon. For Ed Stetzer’s thoughts, check out his blog.
Worship House Media is giving away 6 free motion backgrounds. Originally intended for Catalyst conference attendees, the kind people at Worship House Media decided to share the wealth even further.
Get yours today!
In case you missed Granger Community Church’s (Granger, IN) Innovate conference, you can now watch the sessions online for free! Sessions include:
Enjoy!
[via Tim Stevens]
Further Reading:
View upcoming church conferences.
