First installment of our "Are we growing?" series analyzes membership numbers and trends in the U.S. and state-by-state; also related stories, feedback opportunity, new poll and more.
By Tamie Ross, Associate Online Editor, Christian Chronicle (http://www.christianchronicle.org), 29 Jan 2007 This month, The Christian Chronicle launches a yearlong project exploring the question of "Are we growing?" as well as related issues and possible solutions. We invite you to click on the links below for in-depth stories and state-by-state statistics. Then share your own insights and ideas by e-mailing us at letters@christianchronicle.org with the subject line "Church Growth Feedback." Be sure to include your name and home congregation. The U.S. population is growing. And fast. The nation's nearly 13,000 Churches of Christ -- as a group -- are not. In a nutshell, that's the challenge facing a fellowship whose membership has increased only about 1.6 percent since the beginning of the Reagan era. In the same quarter-century, America as a whole grew at a rate 20 times that.
