Confronting the big attendance drop - with Toby Neal, Dave Jensen and Geoff Bates

The Pastor's Heart with Dominic Steele

What should the church pastor / staff team / church council or bishop do about the big drop in attendance?
A new report (bit.ly/AttendancePatterns) shows Adult Attendance in churches in Sydney is down 7% or 14% against population (over a decade).

Adult attendance declined at approximately two-thirds of Sydney Anglican comparable church centers, and only one-third of church centers recorded an increase in attendance.

The big problem is newcomers. We just are not reaching them. Newcomers are down to 5.4%.

And with fewer new people joining churches, the churches that are growing are primarily growing at the expense of churches that are declining.

A noticeable decline in attendance was recorded in 2018-2019, especially in the most rapidly secularising areas of our region.

The issues are not just external. We have internal issues. There are denominational and congregational factors at play. There are key church health characteristics that show internal health factors are lower in those regions - factors relating to congregational character and leadership.

Geoff Bates pastors Life church in Sydney’s North West and chairs the committee that produced the Attendance Patterns Review report.

Toby Neal pastors Vine Church in inner Sydney, which has seen remarkable growth.

Dave Jensen works at assisting churches to grow in their evangelistic temperature through Evangelism and New Churches.

Host Dominic Steele also served on the committee that produced the report.

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Chapters

1. Church Attendance Decline (00:00:00)

2. Factors Contributing to Church Growth (00:09:15)

3. Church Growth Factors and Vision (00:21:24)

4. Key Patterns for Church Growth (00:29:27)

5. Church Leadership Engagement and Action (00:39:17)