The 100 or so largest churches in the Assemblies of God
I wanted to see where the largest A/G churches were, and to find out what constituted a "large" church in the Assemblies of God. A quick search turned up the 2004 Statistical Report for the Assemblies of God. I quickly whipped together this list, not thinking to look for the latest 2005 report. :: sigh :: So, I went back and added the latest numbers from the '05 data and added about 14 churches. I didn't drop any from the '04 report, assuming that two years wouldn't have made a dramatic difference.
I now supply the list for you to browse and explore. I have added links to the church homepage, media page (if any) and weblog (almost none). Enjoy!
- #1: Phoenix First Assembly of God —
If you're like me, you want to know whether anyone's eating the meat you grind out from the butcher shop of ideas called your blog. Sure, there's some measure of pride and ego involved: as your stats move ever upward your sense of confidence inflates proportionately. So does your sense of importance and pride. We all want at least a little touch of fame.
Problem is, unless you get a lot of comments on your blog, it's difficult to know how many subscribers you have reading your feed, or which posts are getting the most attention, or whether your visitors are first-timers who never return, or old die hards who just can't get enough of your tasty cuts. Yes, traffic analysis is more than just pretty charts, it's a window into
These are a few of the things I've recently found interesting, but don't have the time to properly blog on. I don't necessarily like or agree with the links here, I just think they're interesting. And just in case you do, too, enjoy.
(You can view past Del.icio.us links here or subscribe to my Del.icio.us feed here. 
)
These are a few of the things I've recently found of interest, but don't have the time to properly blog on. I don't necessarily like or agree with the links here, I just think they're interesting. And just in case you do, too, enjoy.
(You can view past Del.icio.us links here or subscribe to my Del.icio.us feed here. )
Back at the first of the year, on January 3, I wrote a post wherein I teased out some trends from the most recent official A/G statistical report published in 2004. I concluded that:
Not only are the new believers outstripping the net change in adherents, they seem to have no impact on the growth trend at all. If the data are accurate, we may be bringing folks to Christ in the A/G, but we’re not keeping them.
—"Examining Assemblies of God statistics on growth"
And I illustrated my conclusion with data, specifically, with this chart:
Note the numbers:
472,704: Conversions
49,533: Net Change in Adherents
10.5%: Percentage of Net Change in Adherents
Okay, this is just irresponsible.
ChristiaNet, billing itself as "the world's most visited Christian website" recently offered a web-based survey asking visitors to answer "eleven questions about their personal sexual conduct." A press release from ChistiaNet trumpeted the results.
After receiving 1,000 results, ChristaNet asked Second Glance Ministries to help evaluate the responses:
"The poll results indicate that 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography."
Further:
- 60% of the women have significant struggles with lust
- 40% of the women committed sexual sin in the past year
- 20% of church-going women struggle with looking at pornography on an ongoing basis
This is nuts. These survey results are not scientific data. I don't believe for a second that one of every two Christian men are addicted to porn, and I certainly don't buy the assertion that one of every
These are a few of the things I've recently found interesting, but don't have the time to properly blog on. I don't necessarily like or agree with the links here, I just think they're interesting. And just in case you do, too, enjoy.
(You can view past Del.icio.us links here or subscribe to my Del.icio.us feed here. )
These are a few of the things I've recently found interesting, but don't have the time to properly blog on. I don't necessarily like or agree with the links here, I just think they're interesting. And just in case you do, too, enjoy.
(You can view past Del.icio.us links here or subscribe to my Del.icio.us feed here. )
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Their numbers have doubled in the last five years from 600 to 1,200 nationwide. And now, more and more, a single church may become a megachurch by having branches at several locations.
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100-Gbyte
Update: See "The A/G: Desperately Seeking Disciplers" for the latest information on this issue, and to see what the A/G is doing about it.
Blogging from the heartland, Sean MacNair calls it like he sees it. In a brief post he concisely serves up highlights from 100 years of American church renewal (See: "The Pardoner's Tale: My best (stolen) idea so far this year"). He buzzes over Pentecostalism, the Charismatic renewal, healing revivals, Billy Graham, the Charismatic Catholic renewal, the Jesus Movement, the megachurch-cum-denomination trend, worship innovations, and the Emergent Conversation. His point: Renewal threatens the status quo but ultimately gets institutionalized, fades into oblivion, or is assimilated into the mainstream.
Buried in his post is a subtle criticism of the movement that spawned them all, and the institution that formed as a result: Pentecostalism and the Assemblies of God.
