Religion According to Google

The following maps are generated from religious references in user-created content indexed by Google.

The first map demonstrates which religions are more referenced than others in global searches. For example, blue means more search references to Jesus than Allah (green), Buddha (yellow), or Hindu (red).

The second map reveals which denominations are more searched in the US. Not surprisingly, Baptists (green) dominate the South and Mormons (purple) lead the Mountain West. More of a surprise was how Methodists (red) represent a thin barrier between the Baptist South and the rest of the nation.

You can see more maps here and here.

HT: Floating Sheep and Cool Infographics

Lean Church Staff

I’m tempted to make a joke about pastors and potlucks, but I think I’ll pass…

By lean staff, I’m referring to how much of the budget a church allocates to personnel costs. How much should a church allot to paid staff? It’s a great research question. The Leadership Network and Your Church magazine released results from a survey they conducted on this subject.

Here’s a few of their findings:

• Lean-staffed churches averaged 1 paid staff member per 86 attenders compared to a 1-to-70 ratio for those that spend more on staffing.
• Lean staff churches do a better job with volunteers and lay leadership development.
• Lean-staffed churches generally spent 18 percent of their budgets on outreach, such as missions and community aid, compared to 15 percent by the other group.
• Growing churches spend a smaller percentage of their budget on staffing costs, so they’re “leaner” than plateaued or declining churches.
• Staff costs become leaner with size—as overall weekend worship attendance increases, but not dramatically so.

The average church spends between 40% and 50% of their budget on personnel costs. So what’s the cut-off point for a lean staff? Their research team determined anything less than 35% was “lean.” They surveyed over 700 churches nationwide, and only 15% of them fit into the lean category.

How do these lean churches do it? There are several possibilities: outsourcing, overworking staff, finding additional revenue streams (i. e. rental income), or—ideally—empowering lay persons. The Leadership Network is following up with another research project to find out more details. Until then, any of you want to speculate on how these churches have lower personnel costs?

You can download the entire report for free here.

NOC2010: Don’t Miss It!

The National Outreach Convention—or “NOC”—is one of the largest annual gatherings in the US focusing on one simple question: how do we reach more with the message of the gospel? It’s a 3-day experience full of practical and innovative teaching from some of the top church leaders and experts. If it’s germane to the church today, then it’s covered at the NOC. Topics this year include assimilation, community transformation, church planting, multi-ethnic outreach, ideation, digital strategies, social media and many more… read about all the sessions and speakers here.

Here’s the deal (in the truest sense): they are offering an “early bird” special for registration through May 15th. You can save up to $100 per person. So, I know some of you were planning on attending. And I know it’s not until November, but go ahead, sign up and save a few bucks. If you’re not familiar with the NOC, check out their website for more details. This gathering is definitely one you should consider adding to your calendar. So bring your team and enjoy sunny San Diego!

I’ll be there as well, discussing the church in 2020: what stays and what goes in the next decade. I look forward to connecting with you in November!

Millennials: One Major Difference from the Boomers

The Pew Research Center released the following comparison between the Boomer generation and the Millennial generation:

If one were to assume that the Millennial generation, like the famously-large Baby Boomer generation, encompasses everyone born over an 18-year span, the two generations would be about equal in size (77 million). However, this is not because fertility rates in recent times have been especially high — they were about 70% higher during the baby boom from 1946 to 1964 — but because population growth, including a big wave of immigration since then, has added more women of child-bearing age. As a result, the Millennial generation is more ethnically diverse, including about twice as many persons of Hispanic origin (19% of all Millennials) as did the Boomer generation (10%).

This report is nothing new, but every time I read about younger generations, I am reminded of how ethnic heterogeneity will become normative. If we are going to reach this generation, then we must do more than simply have a welcoming attitude towards diversity. We’ve got to be intentional about growing churches with a culture of heterogeneity. A great opportunity exists to make a visible–and generational–statement about unity in diversity through the body of Christ. I’m excited about seeing how this shift is accomplished in churches across our country.

You can read more about Pew’s research on the Millennial generation here.