© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use1 The State of the Church in Arkansas Dave Olson

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use2 This is a Sample Presentation It’s purpose is to give you an idea of what is happening to the Christian church in Arkansas, and what the complete “State of the Church in Arkansas” Powerpoint looks like. The goal is to encourage pastors and church lay leaders to view and discuss together the missional challenges in Arkansas that the Church faces. The complete Powerpoint is $14.95 and is available for immediate download at

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use3 In 1996, polls taken immediately after the Presidential election revealed that 58% of people claimed they had voted, when in reality only 49% actually did. This is called the Halo Effect. People tend to over-inflate their participation in activities that create acceptability within their social group. For many decades, pollsters such as Gallup and Barna have reported that around 45% of Americans attend church every Sunday. But there is a religious Halo Effect. Actual attendance counts have shown that the percentage of people attending church on any given weekend is much lower than was previously thought.

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use4 The Intent of this presentation is to answer and then expand on two key questions: “How Many People Really Attend Church in Arkansas Every Week?” “Is the Christian Church Going Forward or Backwards in Influence in Arkansas?” As the data is analyzed county by county assessing a number of factors, a comprehensive picture of the State of the Church in Arkansas will begin to take shape.

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use5 This study uses weekend church attendance as a more reliable and more immediate snapshot of Christian influence than membership. The following map shows the percentage of the population attending a Christian church on any given weekend in all 50 states in Arkansas has an attendance percentage (25.0%) that is much higher than the average for the nation (18.7%).

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use6

7 The Next Map shows the percentage of the population attending a Christian church on any given weekend in 2000 for each county in Arkansas.

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use9 The Next 2 Maps show the population numbers for each county in Arkansas. The first map shows the population size of each county. The second map shows the growth or decline in population for each county from

Complete Presentation has Map of 2000 Population Growth for Each County

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use12 The Next 2 Slides show the ethnicity of Arkansas in 1990 and The third slide shows the growth or decline in the percentage of the population for each ethnic group.

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use13

Complete Presentation has Graph of 2000 Ethnicity

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use15

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use16 The Next Graph shows the attendance numbers for the churches in Arkansas in 1990 and Evangelicals and Catholics have grown in attendance, while the mainline has stayed the same. Unfortunately, as overall worship attendance has slowly increased, the population has grown dramatically. A more reliable standard for evaluating increasing or declining influence is the percentage of the population attending church on any given weekend, shown in the second graph.

© 2004 by David T. Olson

Complete Presentation has Graph of 1990 & 2000 Worship Percentage by Category

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use19 The Next Graph is a Pie graph visualizing the percentage of the population at churches in each category in The “Absent” category indicates the percentage of the population that is not worshipping at a Christian church on any given weekend. The second graph shows the percentage gain or decline for each category in Arkansas in 1990 and 2000.

© 2004 by David T. Olson

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use22 The 3 Next Charts show the relative strength of the 8 major denominational groups in Arkansas. The Pie Chart shows how much Baptists predominate in Arkansas. The second and third charts show that all groups have declined with the exception of the Pentecostals and the Catholics.

Complete Presentation has Pie Chart of 2000 Attendance by Denominational Families

Complete Presentation has Bar Graph of 1990 & 2000 Attendance by Denominational Families

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use26 The Next Chart shows the 1990 & 2000 average church attendance by group for both this state and the nation. The second chart shows the 1990 & 2000 population per church for this state and the nation. This shows how many people live in this state for every Christian church. Among states in 2000, Arkansas is the lowest at 411 people per church, while Utah is the highest at 4,586 people per church.

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use27

Complete Presentation has Bar Graph of 1990 & 2000 Population per Church for State and Nation

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use29 The Next 3 Maps show the attendance percentages for the Evangelical, Catholic and Mainline churches in each county in Arkansas in Evangelical churches are much stronger in the southern half of the state, while Catholics are clustered in the northwest part of the state.

Complete Presentation has State Map of 2000 Evangelical Attendance Percentage for each County

Complete Presentation has State Map of 2000 Mainline Attendance Percentage for each County

Arkansas Counties 2000 Percentage of Population at Catholic Churches on any Given Sunday. Yellow = Most Maroon = Middle Blue = Least Calhoun Cleveland Fulton Lafayette Nevada NewtonSearcy 0.1% Lee 0.2% Madison 0.2% Clay 0.2% Lawrence 0.2% Grant 0.2% Lonoke 0.3% Jackson 0.3% Saint Francis 0.3% Columbia 0.3% Ouachita 0.3% Montgomery 0.3% Stone 0.4% Howard 0.4% Pike 0.4% Lincoln 0.4% Poinsett 0.4% Monroe 0.4% Woodruff 0.4% Crittenden 0.5% Mississippi 0.5% Hot Spring 0.5% Scott 0.5% White 0.5% Little River 0.5% Union 0.6% Drew 0.6% Marion 0.6% Phillips 0.6% Hempstead 0.7% Dallas 0.7% Clark 0.7% Desha 0.8% Greene 0.8% Independence 0.8% Yell 0.9% Izard 0.9% Prairie 0.9% Jefferson 0.9% Cleburne 1.0% Bradley 1.0% Saline 1.1% Van Buren 1.1% Ashley 1.1% Arkansas 1.2% Perry 1.2% Crawford 1.4% Boone 1.4% Cross 1.5% Chicot 1.7% Johnson 1.7% Polk 1.7% Pope 1.9% Craighead 2.1% Miller 2.6% Carroll 2.6% Sharp 2.9% Franklin 2.9% Garland 3.2% Sevier 3.3% Pulaski 3.4% Washington 3.6% Benton 3.9% Sebastian 3.9% Randolph 4.5% Conway 4.8% Baxter 5.1% Faulkner 5.7% Logan 0.0% to 1.0% 1.0% to 2.0% 2.0% to 6.7% No data

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use33 The Next Map shows the growth or decline in the percentage of the population attending a Christian church on any given weekend from 1990 to 2000 for each county. 24 counties grew in attendance percentage, while 51 counties declined.

Complete Presentation has State Map of Christian Church Attendance Percentage Increase or Decline for each County

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use35 The Next 3 Maps show the growth or decline of attendance percentages for the Evangelical, Catholic and Mainline churches in each county in Arkansas between 1990 and For evangelicals, 32 counties grew in attendance percentage, while 43 counties declined. For mainline churches, 7 counties grew in attendance percentage, while 68 counties declined. For Catholics, 45 counties grew in attendance percentage, while 22 counties declined.

Complete Presentation has State Map of Evangelical Attendance Percentage Increase or Decline for each County

Complete Presentation has State Map of Mainline Attendance Percentage Increase or Decline for each County

Arkansas Counties Increase or Decline in Percentage of Population at Catholic Worship on any Given Sunday. Maroon = Growth Blue = Decline Calhoun Cleveland Fulton Lafayette Nevada Newton Pike Searcy -72.2% Lee -64.7% Clay -60.2% Crittenden -50.1% Van Buren -48.0% Izard -47.7% Lonoke -42.3% Saint Francis -35.5% Ouachita -33.3% Union -26.8% Lawrence -21.9% Howard -18.3% Columbia -17.2% Marion -16.0% Cross -15.0% Montgomery -13.8% Mississippi -13.3% Arkansas -10.9% Desha -8.5% Phillips -5.6% Prairie -4.4% Greene -4.1% Jackson 0.3% Franklin 1.6% Jefferson 2.5% Perry 3.6% Chicot 4.5% Grant 6.3% Poinsett 7.0% Conway 9.5% Randolph 10.1% Woodruff 10.7% Baxter 12.4% Monroe 19.2% Logan 20.0% Boone 21.9% Stone 22.7% Sharp 24.1% Pulaski 24.4% Cleburne 28.9% Sebastian 30.7% Pope 31.8% Scott 33.0% Hempstead 36.6% Madison 37.7% Miller 41.1% Independence 41.6% Garland 46.0% Hot Spring 57.9% Lincoln 63.4% Saline 68.6% Faulkner 75.3% Clark 87.1% Craighead 93.3% Ashley 97.4% Johnson 102.2% Yell 104.1% Polk 104.7% Benton 110.1% Drew 118.8% Washington 122.3% Crawford 129.5% Sevier 208.0% Dallas 315.3% White 377.4% Carroll 418.8% Little River % Bradley Decline Increase No data

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use39 The Final Chart shows the net gain in the number of churches in Arkansas in the past decade. There was a net loss of 46 churches. However, to keep up with the population growth in Arkansas, there would have needed to have been an additional 897 more churches started from

© 2004 by David T. Olson

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use41 The State of the Church in Arkansas... Because of strong population growth in the northwest part of Arkansas, the church has both great opportunities and great challenges. While church attendance has grown for Evangelicals and Catholics, the percentage of the population attending church has been declining for the Evangelical and Mainline church, while growing only for the Catholic church. This resulted in a 6% loss in the state-wide percentage of the population that attended church between 1990 and A major factor in the overall decline is the insufficient net gain in the number of churches in Arkansas. If the present decade is to rectify that state-wide, 897 more churches would need to be started in the state than in the previous decade.

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use42 For More Information... Please go to for additional information on the American Church. 12 Surprising Facts about the American Church is available at 12supm. htm 12supm. htm The complete Arkansas Powerpoint presentation is available at The Complete Birmingham Powerpoint presentation is available at A Combo Pack (12 Surprising Facts, Arkansas and Little Rock Powerpoints) is available at

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use43 Information on the Information The spiritual health of churches is multifaceted, and is obviously much more complex than an attendance trend can portray. However, following the example of St. Luke in the Book of Acts, who used the number of people who showed up at various events as a sign documenting the health and growth of the early church, I would suggest that attendance is the single most helpful indicator of health, growth and decline. Information has been compiled only for orthodox Christian groups – Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox. The Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Unitarian-Universalists and the International Churches of Christ have not been included. In addition, information about non-Christian groups has not been compiled. African American denominations publish very little that is statistical – often not even a list of current churches. This study used data from the 1990 Glenmary study on Black Baptist estimates and AME Zion churches, the average African American worship attendance (from the Barna Research Group), and a statistical model based on the population of African Americans in each county in 1990 and These were combined to come up with as accurate an estimate as possible. Independent church data is almost impossible to obtain. (There are actually fewer totally independent churches than is assumed. Most are part of some voluntary association, which typically keeps some records.) Data from the 1990 & 2000 Glenmary study on larger Independent churches (limited to over 300 in attendance) was used along with a statistical model to estimate the attendance at smaller independent churches. In Catholic churches, the definition of what constitutes membership varies with diocese and church, making numbers sometimes inconsistent from state to state and county to county. In addition to actual mass counts from 1/3 rd of Catholic parishes, membership information has been merged with attendance patterns from similar dioceses based on the size of the diocese and the region in which it is located. Orthodox Churches are included in Totals, but not included as a separate group because of smallness of size nationwide. Division into Evangelical and Mainline categories is based on the division by the Glenmary Study. This study only looks at how many people attend a Christian church on any given Sunday. The term ‘regular attender’ can be designated to mean someone who attends a Christian church on a consistent basis. Using a simple definition for ‘regular attender’ (attends at least 3 out of every 8 Sundays), between 23% and 25% of Americans would fit this category. Adding ‘regular attenders’ of non-orthodox christian churches and other religions to the totals would increase the percentage to 26% – 28%.

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use44 This Presentation is based on a nationwide study of American church attendance, as reported by churches and denominations. The database currently has average worship attendances for each of the last 10 years for over 170,000 individual churches. It also uses supplementary information (actual membership numbers correlated with accurate membership to attendance ratios) to project the attendances of all other denominational and independent churches. All told, accurate information is provided for all 300,000 orthodox Christian churches. 1 1 This presentation looks only at people attending orthodox Christian churches. Approximately 3 million people attend non-orthodox Christian churches, and perhaps 3 million attend a religious service of another religion. Those ‘houses of worship’ would add another 35,000 churches in the United States and increase the 2000 percentage to 20.5%.

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use45 For More Information... Presentations such as this are available for the largest 100 metropolitan areas, for each state and for the nation as a whole, as well as other presentations to show what is happening in the American church. Presentations are available either by direct download, CD or print. Please go to for ordering information. To Contact Dave Olson, please him at