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Previous | Next Delta, B.C.
National church planting rate slows
The Canadian Church Planting Congress held in October 1997 in Bramalea, Ont. launched a strategy to plant 10,000 new churches by 2015 to disciple our nation to the Lord Jesus Christ. Many evangelical denominations made commitments to set and raise church planting goals and restructure for greater effectiveness in church planting.
However, recent research reveals that 1998 began slowly. A sample of 39 evangelical denominations showed a net gain of 51 churches during 1998, but this was down from the annual average of 84 new churches from these same denominations during the years 1992-1997. In 1998 the average annual growth rate of these denominations was 0.7%, down from 1.3% during the previous five years, and below the Canadian population growth rate of 1.0% in 1998. In comparison the growth rate for evangelicals worldwide is 4.5%. Smaller independent churches added a net of 82 new churches for the year, while mainline denominations declined by 83 congregations.
The interim goal of the Canadian DAWN Movement, which sponsored the 1997 consultation, is to increase the number of evangelical churches to the point that there is one church for each 2000 Canadians. However, the ratio actually increased in 1998, from one church per 4308 people to one church per 4318 people.
The DAWN Movement cautions that it is too early to assess the results of the new church planting initiatives, because most new churches begun in 1998 would not yet be reflected in denominational statistics of the same year. Reprinted with permission, from Church Planting Canada newsletter.
Sample of Canadian Evangelical Denominations:
|
— Reported Congregations —
|
Avg. Annual Growth Rate
|
Growth Rate
|
|
1992
|
1997
|
1998
|
1992-97
|
1998
|
|
Associated Gospel Churches
|
130
|
137
|
135
|
1.1
|
-1.5
|
|
Association of Vineyard Churches Canada
|
20
|
59
|
65
|
24.2
|
10.2
|
|
Brethren in Christ, Canadian Conference
|
39
|
40
|
39
|
0.5
|
-2.5
|
|
Canadian Baptist Federation
|
1,118
|
1,129
|
1,115
|
0.2
|
-1.2
|
|
Canadian Conference of MB Churches
|
195
|
200
|
208
|
0.5
|
4.0
|
|
Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists
|
100
|
124
|
134
|
4.4
|
8.1
|
|
Christian & Missionary Alliance in Canada
|
348
|
386
|
395
|
2.1
|
2.3
|
|
Conference of Mennonites in Canada
|
226
|
242
|
238
|
1.4
|
-1.7
|
|
Evangelical Free Church
|
134
|
137
|
144
|
0.4
|
5.1
|
|
Evangelical Mennonite Conference
|
50
|
52
|
52
|
0.8
|
0.0
|
|
Evangelical Mennonite Missions Conference
|
27
|
27
|
28
|
0.0
|
3.7
|
|
Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches
|
500
|
501
|
505
|
0.0
|
0.8
|
|
Open Bible Fellowship
|
4
|
48
|
58
|
64.4
|
20.8
|
|
Partners in Harvest
|
0
|
18
|
24
|
–
|
33.3
|
|
Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada
|
1,034
|
1,097
|
1,093
|
1.2
|
-0.4
|
|
Salvation Army in Canada
|
404
|
399
|
388
|
-0.2
|
-2.8
|
|
Victory Churches International
|
14
|
45
|
47
|
26.3
|
4.4
|
|
TOTAL EVANGELICAL CHURCHES
|
2,741
|
4,641
|
4,668
|
127.3
|
82.6
|
|
|
|
Canadian Population
|
28,376,550
|
30,010,974
|
30,301,185
|
|
Evangelical Church-to-Population Ratio
|
4,336
|
4,308
|
4,318
|
|
|
|
Sample Mainline Denominations
|
|
Anglican Church of Canada
|
3,026
|
2,957
|
2,957*
|
-0.5
|
0.0
|
|
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
|
656
|
642
|
640
|
-0.4
|
-0.3
|
|
Presbyterian Church in Canada
|
998
|
1,012
|
961
|
0.3
|
-5.0
|
|
United Church of Canada
|
4,019
|
3,820
|
3,795
|
-1.0
|
-0.7
|
|
MAINLINE CHURCHES TOTAL
|
9,043
|
8,775
|
8,692
|
-0.6
|
-0.9
|
|
* The Anglican Church has not reported statistics since 1996
|
|
|
|
Mainline Church-to-Population Ratio
|
3,138
|
3,420
|
3,486
|
|
Composite Church-to-Polulation Ratio
|
1,821
|
1,907
|
1,927
|
|
Congregations getting larger
A study of 2035 congregations shows that average worship attendance at Canadian churches increased from 118 persons in 1990 to 130 persons 1997, an annual average growth rate of 1.4%.
Quebec had the largest increase, at 2% annually, possibly indicating that that province is again becoming more open to the gospel.
Province
|
Churches
Reporting
|
|
1990 Average
Attendance
|
|
1997 Average
Attendance
|
|
British Columbia
|
289
|
|
171.3
|
|
207.3
|
Alberta
|
320
|
133.0
|
161.0
|
Saskatchewan
|
171
|
120.0
|
119.0
|
Manitoba
|
122
|
150.7
|
158.8
|
Ontario
|
471
|
123.3
|
135.5
|
Quebec
|
51
|
84.9
|
97.2
|
New Brunswick
|
165
|
79.2
|
78.2
|
Nova Scotia
|
211
|
62.5
|
63.3
|
P.E. Island
|
21
|
83.7
|
88.0
|
Newfoundland
|
214
|
90.9
|
85.6
|
TOTAL
|
2,035
|
118.2
|
130.7
|
Global Evangelical Growth
Evangelicals are currently the world’s most rapidly growing religious movement, according to Mission Frontiers magazine, published by the US Center for World Mission. The USCWM presented the following figures, based on their research and statistics from David Barrett and Patrick Johnstone:
Annual Growth Rates
|
|
Pentecostal & Charismatic Churches
|
7.3%
|
Evangelical churches
|
5.6%
|
Protestant Mainline churches
|
2.9%
|
Roman Catholic Church
|
1.2%
|
Christianity
|
2.6%
|
Islam
|
2.7%
|
Global population
|
1.6%
|
Evangelical Christianity is growing 3.5 times as fast as the world population (Pentecostal and charismatic churches 4.5 times as fast). That makes evangelical Christianity (including Pentecostal and charismatic churches), with 645 million members or 11% of world population, the fastest-growing major religious group, and the only movement growing significantly through conversion. (Islam exceeds the Christian growth rate, but this is due to larger average family size, not to conversions.) It must also be noted that persecution of evangelicals has accompanied significant growth in many regions of the world.
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Last modified July 20, 2007.
© 2007 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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