According to George Gallup, there are 195 million people in the United States that are unchurched.

In 1900, there were 27 protestant churches per 10,000 United States citizens.  In 1950 there were 17.  In 1996 there were 11, and in 2000 there were 10.

According to the American Society for Church Growth, we are currently averaging between 1,100 and 1,500 new church plants per year, but there are between 3,500 and 4,000 churches that close each year.

The US population has increased 11.4%, or 24,153,000, over the last ten years, but membership in Protestant churches has declined by 9.5%, or 4,498,242 over the same period.

The United States is the largest Christian nation in the world, but ironically is also the third-largest unchurched nation in the world.

The membership of megachurches in the US averages 2,856.  These megachurches win, on average, 112 people to Christ every five years.  Minichurches, on the other hand, average 51 in attendance, but win 32 people to Christ over the same period of time.

Churches that are less than 3 years old win an average of 10 people to Christ every year per 100 people in membership.  Churches that are between 3 and 15 years old win 5, and churches that are older than 15 years old win an average of 3.

If these statistics are true, you can draw several conclusions, all of which are very sobering.

First, our churches are not growing fast enough.  They are not bringing enough unchurched believers back into the organized church, and they are not leading enough people to Christ. 

Second, many of our churches are dying, and are not being replaced quickly enough.

Third, smaller churches are doing a better job of reaching the lost for Christ than larger churches.

Fourth, younger churches are doing a better job of reaching the lost for Christ than older churches.

Granted, these statistics probably don't tell the whole story.  Deeper study into them might paint a somewhat different picture about the exact state of churches in America.  However, I think that most people would agree that the church at large is not keeping up with the demographic changes going on in our country.

Our perception of these statistics, for those of us in Tulsa, is probably a bit clouded because of the large number of churches that we have here.  I read once that Tulsa County has more churches per capita than any other county in the nation.

So when someone suggests that we don't need any more churches, I beg to differ.  There are many unchurched people in Tulsa, and we seem to have the same situation here as exists in the rest of the nation.  We have some churches bursting at the seams, and others that are dying on the vine.  It would be interesting to know exactly why that is happening.  Is it that our Christian population is dying off, and not enough young people are becoming Christians?  Are the fast-growing churches really bringing people to Christ, or are they simply growing from transfers from other churches?

One thing I am sure of, and that is that church planting is a very effective way to grow the church and to bring many people to Christ.

For churches that are interested in planting a new church, there is a lot of information available on the internet.  One particular site, by Church Planting Ventures, can answer many of your questions about church planting.  You can find it easily by typing "plant a church" "the Visionary" on your search engine.  You can find much more information by typing "plant a church".

When you master plan your church, it's a vision of everything that you intend to do or build on your church's property, but it shouldn't stop there.  By planting new churches, it doesn't have to.