For all the trendiness and relevant-ness of hip box and band mall-like mega-church-ish church popularity, there is an interesting statistic that should turn the heads of all millennial and z-Gen Christians and older Christians looking to relive their youthfulness: Research shows that most growing churches are homogeneous. What this means is, most growing churches in the U.S. attract their own kind, their peers, a flat demographic. “In fact, research has shown that churches in the United States have become intense sites of clusters,” that is groups made up of people who are very much alike demographically and in personality. You know, our kind of people. “Overall, Churches in the United States are more segregated than neighborhoods.” *Quotes from Congregations, Neighborhoods, Places by Mark T Mulden, expansion is on me and what Mulden's material made me think of. We must resist and rethink church. |