David Olson says only 17% of Americans regularly attend a Christian worship service and the American church is in crisis. Esteemed scholar and professor Rodney Stark says that the American church is just fine. He puts the number of Americans who “belong to a congregation” at 69%. So who’s right?

Both are. Sort of.

Olson’s number is based on actual reported attendance numbers from denominational offices of over 200,000 American churches. Stark’s number is based on a series of surveys conducted by Baylor University from 2005-2007 with a total sample of about 4500 adults. Olson’s measures behavior. Stark’s reports responses to questions asked by interviewers.

So basically, what we learn is that 69% of Americans “belong to a congregation,” but only 17% actually bother to participate regularly in the assembling together of the congregation. Keep in mind, the “congregation” that Stark refers to includes groups like Unitarians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Latter-day Saints and other such groups that subscribe to a view of scripture that is at odds with the consensus among most followers of Christ. 

Which leads me to conclude that the title of Olson’s book “The American Church In Crisis” most accurately describes the reality we face in this great nation. Now is not the time to “rest on our laurels.” 

Yesterday, I was in Topeka, Kansas with a group of enthusiastic pastors and church leaders. We gathered to think and pray together about multiplying the church in Kansas. The meeting was convened by Bo Melin, pastor of First Assembly of God Topeka. Bo has led First AG for the past 7 years. He’s helped the church transition from a traditional single campus church to one church in three locations (and possibly soon to be four). You can read more about Topeka First here. Topeka is not Bo’s first experience with multiplying the church. As a pastor in the state of Washington, Bo planted four daughter churches as offspring of the mother congregation. In spite of his experience and success at multiplication, Bo felt that it would be valuable to learn about what others are doing to multiply the church, so he invited me to serve as a facilitator and a consultant for the day.

Word got out and other pastors asked if they could come. Kansas District Superintendent Terry Yancey and some of this district team leaders showed up.  Before you know it, we had a room full of leaders from all over Kansas loaded with ideas and questions. It was a blast!

In the back of my mind, I remembered from my “History and Polity” class that something had happened in Topeka in the early 1900’s that many view as a catalyst for Azuza Street. But my memory was fuzzy, so I asked the leaders about the role that Topeka had played in the early years of the modern Pentecostal movement. One of them summarized the role of Topeka by exclaiming…”this was Ground Zero.” So I did some research and found an article from the “Council Today”newspaper published at the 49th General Council that convened in Kansas City in August 2001. I’ve cut and pasted the article below along with a link to it’s location on the AG website.

As the significance of Topeka dawned on me, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of providence about the meeting that took place yesterday. With an attitude reminiscent of the heart of the young people who had gathered in Topeka over a century before, these 21st century Spirit empowered leaders had gathered again to pray for God’s fresh anointing to build bridges to lost people. The 1901 meeting didn’t look like much when it initially happened. It seemed to mainly generate controversy and ridicule. But God orchestrated a divine chain of events that resulted in hundreds of millions experiencing a powerful Pentecost and an unprecedented wave of evangelism.

The meeting yesterday was unremarkable in many ways. But as we circled to pray at the end of the day I had a sense another wave was beginning to roll. It felt that we’d been called together “for such a time as this” and that God was going to use this 21st century seed to bring a fresh wave transformational Pentecost that will impact the destinies of many people. I’m excited about what’s next!

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