© 2004 by david t. olson sample - not for public use1 the state of the church in indiana 1990-2000...

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

1

The State of the Church

in Indiana

1990-2000

Dave Olsonwww.TheAmericanChurch.org


2

This is a Sample Presentation

It’s purpose is to give you an idea of what is happening to the

Christian church in Indiana, and what the complete “State of

the Church in Indiana” Powerpoint looks like. The goal is to

encourage pastors and church lay leaders to view and discuss

together the missional challenges in Indiana that the Church

faces. The complete Powerpoint is $14.95 and is available for

immediate download at

http://www.theamericanchurch.org/state/UIN20.htm


3

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.


4

The Intent of this presentation is to answer and then expand

on two key questions:

“How Many People Really Attend Church in Indiana Every Week?”

“Is the Christian Church Going Forwards or Backwards in Influence in Indiana?”

As the data is analyzed county by county assessing a number of factors, a comprehensive picture of the State of the Church in Indiana will begin to take shape.


5

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. Indiana has an attendance percentage (21.7%) that is higher than the average for the nation (18.7%).


6

3.1%UT

9.7%NV

11.2%ME

11.4%ID

11.8%NH

13.2%VT

13.4%HI

14.0%WY

14.0%WA

14.3%AZ

14.4%MA

14.5%OR

14.8%CA

15.1%AK

15.1%FL

15.2%CO

15.5%NY

16.0%NJ

16.0%DE

17.4%WV

17.5%MT

17.7%MD

17.8%NM

18.0%VA

17.2%CT

19.1%TX

20.1%RI

20.3%IL

20.3%OH

20.5%PA

20.6%MI

21.5%MO

21.7%IN

22.0%OK

22.1%KY

22.7%KS

22.7%NC

23.2%MN

23.3%SC

23.3%GA

23.5%TN

23.8%NE

24.6%WI

24.7%IA

25.0%AR

26.7%MS

26.9%AL

28.0%SD

28.6%DC

29.4%ND

29.4%LA

0.0% to 14.4%14.4% to 17.5%17.5% to 20.6%20.6% to 23.5%23.5% to 29.4%

Percentage of Population Attending a ChristianChurch on any Given Weekend 2000


7

The Next Map

shows the percentage of the population attending a Christian church on any given weekend in 2000 for each county in Indiana.

Indiana Counties 2000 Percentage of Population at Worship in a Christian

Church on any Given Sunday Blue = LowestRose = Middle

Beige = Highest

11.7%

Noble

12.6%

Blackford

13.4%

Switzerland

13.8%

Decatur

13.9%

Warrick

13.9%

Pike

14.1%

Starke

14.5%

Union

14.5%

Steuben

15.0%

Vermillion

15.9%

Porter

16.3%

Posey

16.4%

De Kalb

16.8%

Shelby

16.8%

Ohio

17.0%

Delaware

17.2%

Owen

17.3%

Clark

17.5%

Newton

17.5%

Jennings

17.9%

Morgan

18.1%

Tippecanoe

18.1%

Vigo18.2%

Franklin

18.3%

Spencer

18.4%

White

18.7%

Wayne

18.7%

La Porte

18.8%

Hamilton

18.8%

Vanderburgh

18.9%

Perry

19.0%

Cass

19.0%

Carroll

19.4%

Monroe

19.4%

Randolph

19.5%

Putnam

20.4%

Tipton

20.6%

Clay

20.6%

Fayette

20.6%

Hancock

20.7%

Gibson

20.9%

Whitley

21.2%

Brown

21.2%

Parke

21.3%

Harrison

21.4%

Grant

21.5%

Boone

21.6%

Greene

21.8%

Clinton

21.8%

Jefferson

21.9%

Hendricks

22.2%

Marshall

22.3%

Madison

22.4%

Marion

22.7%

Kosciusko

22.7%

Fulton

22.8%

Miami

22.8%

Knox

22.9%

Crawford

23.0%

Henry

23.1%

Johnson

23.1%

Jasper

23.3%

Lake

23.6%

Floyd

23.9%

Elkhart

24.1%

Bartholomew

24.1%

St Joseph

24.4%

Montgomery

24.5%

Pulaski

24.8%

Fountain

25.0%

Lawrence

25.5%

Sullivan

25.6%

Wells

25.6%

Orange

25.9%

Warren

26.2%

Scott

26.6%

Allen

26.8%

Jay

27.1%

Wabash

27.1%

Washington

27.2%

Rush

27.6%

Howard

28.1%

Martin

28.7%

Daviess

28.8%

Ripley

29.0%

Dearborn

29.7%

Jackson

30.6%

Lagrange

31.2%

Huntington

31.5%

Benton

36.4%

Adams

39.0%

Dubois

0.0% to 19.0%19.0% to 23.3%23.3% to 40.0%


9

The Next 2 Maps

show the population numbers for each county in Indiana. 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. 11 counties declined in population.

Indiana Counties2000 Population

5,623

Ohio

7,349

Union

8,419

Warren

9,065

Switzerland

9,421

Benton

10,369

Martin

10,743

Crawford

12,837

Pike

13,755

Pulaski

14,048

Blackford

14,566

Newton

14,957

Brown

16,577

Tipton

16,788

Vermillion17,241

Parke

17,954

Fountain

18,261

Rush

18,899

Perry

19,306

Orange

20,165

Carroll

20,391

Spencer

20,511

Fulton

21,751

Sullivan

21,786

Owen

21,806

Jay

22,151

Franklin

22,960

Scott

23,556

Starke

24,555

Dearborn

25,267

White

25,588

Fayette

26,523

Ripley

26,556

Clay

27,061

Posey

27,223

Washington

27,401

Randolph

27,554

Jennings

27,600

Wells

29,820

Daviess

30,043

Jasper

30,707

Whitley

31,705

Jefferson

32,500

Gibson

33,157

Greene

33,214

Steuben

33,625

Adams

33,866

Clinton

34,325

Harrison

34,909

Lagrange

34,960

Wabash

36,019

Putnam

36,082

Miami

37,629

Montgomery

38,075

Huntington

39,256

Knox

39,674

Dubois

40,285

Decatur

40,930

Cass

41,335

Jackson

43,445

Shelby

45,128

Marshall

45,922

Lawrence

46,107

Boone

46,109

De Kalb

46,275

Noble

48,508

Henry

52,383

Warrick

55,391

Hancock

66,689

Morgan

70,823

Floyd

71,097

Wayne

71,435

Bartholomew

73,403

Grant

74,057

Kosciusko

84,964

Howard

96,472

Clark

104,093

Hendricks

105,848

Vigo

110,106

La Porte

115,209

Johnson

118,769

Delaware

120,563

Monroe

133,358

Madison

146,798

Porter

148,955

Tippecanoe

171,922

Vanderburgh

182,740

Hamilton

182,791

Elkhart

265,559

St Joseph

331,849

Allen

484,564

Lake

860,454

Marion

0 to 20,00020,000 to 100,000100,000 to 860,455

Complete Presentation has

Map of 2000 Population Growth for Each County


12

The Next 2 Slides

show the ethnicity of Indiana in 1990 and 2000. The third slide shows the growth or decline in the percentage of the population for each ethnic group.


13

1990 Ethnicity of Indiana

Non-Hispanic White89%

Non-Hispanic Black8%

Hispanic2%

Asian1%

Non-Hispanic White

Non-Hispanic Black

Hispanic

Asian


Graph of 2000 Ethnicity


15

-4.2%

13.1%

105.1%

79.6%

-20.0%

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

120.0%

Non-Hispanic White Non-Hispanic Black Hispanic Asian

Indiana 1990 - 2000 Growth or Decline in an Ethnic Group's Percentage of the Population


16

The Next Graph

shows the attendance numbers for the churches in Indiana in 1990 and 2000. Evangelicals have grown slightly in attendance, while Catholics and the mainline have declined. Unfortunately, while overall worship attendance has declined, the population has grown. 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 shows a significant decline in the percentage of the population attending church in Indiana.

© 2004 by David T. Olson

708,373 716,393

317,415301,986

315,832 296,531

1,346,798 1,320,240

-

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,00019

90 E

van

gel

ical

2000

Eva

ng

elic

al

1990

Mai

nlin

e

2000

Mai

nlin

e

1990

Cat

ho

lic

2000

Cat

ho

lic

1990

To

tal

2000

To

tal

Indiana Worship Attendance - 1990 & 2000


Graph of 1990 & 2000 Worship Percentage by

Category


19

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 Indiana in 1990 and 2000.


Indiana 2000 Weekly Worship Attendance

11.8%

5.0%

4.9%

78.3%

Evangelical

Mainline

Catholic

Absent


-8.4%

-15.3%-16.8%

-11.9%

-30.0%

-20.0%

-10.0%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

Evangelical Mainline Catholic Total

Indiana - Change in Worship Attendance as a Percentage of Population 1990-2000


22

The 2 Next Charts

show the relative strength of the 8 major denominational groups in Indiana. The second chart shows that all groups have declined with the exception of the Christian denomination.


Pie Chart of 2000 Attendance by Denominational Families


Bar Graph of 1990 & 2000 Attendance by

Denominational Families


25

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.


26

149 144124 131

110 112 112 115

664642

794 794

165 161 172 175

-

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

Evangelical Mainline Catholic Total

1990 & 2000 Indiana Average Church Attendance

1990 Indiana

2000 Indiana

1990 US Average

2000 US Average


Bar Graph of 1990 & 2000 Population per Church

for State and Nation


28

The Next 3 Maps

show the attendance percentages for the Evangelical, Catholic and Mainline churches in each county in Indiana in 2000.


State Map of 2000 Evangelical Attendance

Percentage for each County


State Map of 2000 Mainline Attendance

Percentage for each County

Indiana Counties 2000 Percentage of Population at Worship in Catholic Churches on any Given Sunday

Blue = LowestRose = Middle

Beige = Highest

Ohio

0.4%

Owen

0.4%

Crawford

0.4%

Switzerland

0.5%

Parke

0.5%Henry

0.6%

Washington

0.7%

Warren

0.8%

Putnam

0.8%Scott

0.8%

Orange

0.9%

Sullivan

0.9%

Clay

0.9%

Jackson

1.0%

Lagrange

1.2%

Wells

1.3%

Morgan

1.4%

Randolph

1.5%

Lawrence

1.5%

Carroll

1.7%

Clinton

1.7%

Greene

1.7%

Pike

1.8%Vermillion

1.9%

Brown

1.9%

Wabash

1.9%

Montgomery

1.9%

Hancock

2.0%

Fountain

2.0%Grant

2.0%

Bartholomew

2.1%

Wayne

2.1%Delaware

2.1%

Fulton

2.1%

Blackford

2.1%

Starke

2.2%Union

2.2%

Madison

2.3%

Johnson2.3%

Vigo

2.4%Miami

2.4%

Steuben

2.4%

Shelby

2.4%Jefferson

2.5%

White

2.5%

Jennings

2.6%

Rush

2.8%

Monroe

3.0%

Elkhart

3.0%

Fayette

3.0%

Kosciusko

3.1%

Cass

3.2%

Hendricks

3.3%Tipton

3.4%

Marion

3.4%

Clark

3.4%

De Kalb

3.5%

Boone

3.5%Jay

3.6%

Decatur

3.6%Howard

3.7%

Noble

4.1%Whitley

4.7%Tippecanoe

4.9%

Marshall

4.9%

Harrison

4.9%

Daviess

5.0%Newton

5.2%

Jasper

5.5%

Warrick

5.6%

Floyd

6.0%

Pulaski

6.3%

Huntington

6.5%

Franklin

6.7%

Porter

6.8%

Adams

7.4%La Porte

7.4%Hamilton

7.6%

Knox

8.1%

Posey

8.2%

Allen

8.5%Lake

8.8%Perry

9.0%Vanderburgh

9.1%Spencer

9.2%

Ripley

9.4%Dearborn

9.5%Gibson

11.3%

St Joseph

12.7%Martin

13.1%Benton

29.0%

Dubois

0.0% to 2.1%2.1% to 3.7%3.7% to 30.0%No data


32

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. 27 counties grew in attendance percentage, while 65 counties declined.


State Map of 1990 - 2000 Christian Church Attendance

Percentage Increase or Decline

for each County


34

The Next 3 Maps

show the growth or decline of attendance percentages for the Evangelical, Catholic and Mainline churches in each county in Indiana between 1990 and 2000. For evangelicals, 50 counties grew in attendance percentage, while 42 counties declined. For mainline churches, 7 counties grew in attendance percentage, while 85 counties declined. For Catholics, 9 counties grew in attendance percentage, while 81 counties declined.


State Map of 1990 - 2000 Evangelical Attendance


for each County


State Map of 1990 - 2000 Mainline Attendance


for each County

Indiana Counties1990-2000 Growth or Decline of Percentage of Population

at Catholic Worship on any Given Sunday.

Rose = Growth Blue = Decline

DeclineGrowth

Ohio

Warren

-60.9%

Switzerland

-57.1%

Parke

-49.0%

Crawford

-38.3%

Vermillion

-36.0%

Henry

-35.8%

Cass

-35.3%

Montgomery

-35.1%

Franklin

-35.1%

Starke

-35.0%

Pulaski

-33.7%

De Kalb

-32.4%

Steuben

-29.6%

Newton

-28.8%

Daviess

-28.6%

Jasper

-28.2%

Benton

-27.8%

Decatur

-27.4%

Orange

-27.1%

Howard

-26.9%

Elkhart

-26.2%

Madison

-25.1%

Clark

-24.5%

Boone

-24.2%

Blackford

-24.1%

White-23.3%

Wells

-22.1%

Tipton

-21.0%

Hancock

-20.5%

Huntington

-19.9%

Delaware

-19.8%

Jefferson

-19.8%

Lake

-19.2%

St Joseph

-18.0%

Noble

-17.8%

Owen

-17.0%

Greene

-17.0%

Jay

-16.4%

Gibson

-16.4%

Posey

-16.4%

Clay

-16.2%

Spencer

-15.6%

Grant

-15.6%

Harrison

-15.5%

Washington

-15.2%

Perry

-15.0%

Miami

-14.9%

Fountain

-14.9%

Johnson

-14.6%

Wayne

-14.6%

Shelby

-14.1%

Marion

-13.8%

Dubois

-13.7%

Scott

-13.6%

Jennings

-12.7%

Adams

-12.5%

Monroe

-11.6%

Clinton

-11.6%

Allen

-11.4%

Martin

-11.3%

Lawrence

-11.2%

Carroll

-11.2%

Morgan

-10.1%

Sullivan

-9.7%

Floyd

-9.3%

Hamilton

-8.7%

Jackson

-8.0%

Lagrange

-7.9%

Wabash

-7.2%

Hendricks

-7.2%

Knox

-5.9%

Rush

-5.9%

Whitley

-5.7%

Fayette

-5.1%

Vanderburgh

-4.4%

Ripley

-4.1%

Warrick

-3.9%

Fulton

-1.9%

Bartholomew

-1.9%

Vigo

-1.1%

Putnam

-0.4%

Tippecanoe

0.1%

Brown

3.6%

Dearborn

5.0%

Randolph

14.6%

La Porte

14.8%

Union

19.2%

Porter

20.2%

Kosciusko

26.1%

Marshall

27.7%

Pike


38

The Final Chart

shows the net gain in the number of churches in Indiana in the past decade. There was a net gain of 28 churches. However, 789 churches were needed to keep up with population growth from 1990 - 2000.


226

-186

-14

28

789

-300

-100

100

300

500

700

900

Evangelical Mainline Catholic Total Gain Increase Needed toMaintain 1990 Ratio of

Churches to Population

Increase in Number of Churches in Indiana Between 1990 & 2000


40

The State of the Church in Indiana . . .

While church attendance increased only for Evangelicals, the percentage of the population attending church has declined for all groups. This resulted in a 12% 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 insufficient net gain in the number of churches in Indiana. Seven hundred and sixty-one additional churches needed to have been started in the previous decade to compensate for the decline in percentage attendance.


41

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/12supm.htm

The complete Indiana Powerpoint presentation is available at http://www.theamericanchurch.org/state/UIN20.htm

The Complete Indianapolis Powerpoint presentation is available at http://www.theamericanchurch.org/metro/Indianapolis.htm

A Combo Pack (12 Surprising Facts, Indiana and Indianapolis Powerpoints) is available at http://www.theamericanchurch.org/combo/IN0.htm


42

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%.


43

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%.


44

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 [email protected].

© 2004 by david t. olson sample - not for public use1 the state of the church in indiana 1990-2000...

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