The State of the Church in Oklahoma

The State of the Church in Oklahoma 1990-2000
Dave Olson © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

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

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 Use

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

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 Oklahoma has an average church attendance percentage (22.0%) higher than the national average (18.7%). © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

Percentage of Population in 2000 at Christian churches
8.1% Sequoyah 8.6% Wagoner 9.4% Le Flore 14.2% Adair 15.1% Cleveland 15.4% Logan 15.8% Rogers 16.1% Cherokee 16.9% McIntosh 17.0% Osage 17.2% Creek 18.1% Pawnee 18.2% Kay Okfuskee 18.3% Coal 18.4% Canadian 19.3% Craig 19.4% Grady 19.5% Latimer 19.8% Payne 20.0% Pottawatomie Nowata 20.1% Bryan Okmulgee 20.2% Murray 20.4% Comanche 20.5% Marshall 20.6% Choctaw 20.7% Mayes 20.8% Atoka 21.0% Lincoln 21.2% McClain 21.9% Seminole 22.0% Noble 22.5% Tulsa 22.7% Pittsburg Love 23.0% McCurtain Ottawa Hughes 23.4% Garfield Beaver 23.9% Pontotoc 24.0% Jackson 24.2% Johnston 24.3% Muskogee 24.6% Carter Jefferson 25.0% Greer Washington 25.2% Garvin 25.3% Caddo Pushmataha 25.4% Delaware 26.2% Ellis 26.3% Woodward 26.4% Stephens 26.7% Kiowa 26.9% Roger Mills 27.2% Tillman 27.4% Blaine 27.7% Washita Woods 28.0% Alfalfa 28.1% Oklahoma Beckham 30.2% Kingfisher 30.5% Custer 30.6% Harper Haskell 31.0% Cotton 31.2% Cimarron 32.2% Harmon 33.9% Major 34.0% Texas 40.6% Grant 45.3% Dewey 0.0% to 20.5% 20.5% to 25.3% 25.3% to 46.3% Oklahoma Counties Percentage of Population in 2000 at Christian churches on any Given Weekend Beige = High Rose = Medium Blue = Low © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

The Next 2 Maps show the population numbers for each county in Oklahoma. The first map shows the population of each county. The second map shows the growth or decline in population for each county from Twenty counties in western Oklahoma have experienced negative population growth. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

3,148 Cimarron 3,283 Harmon 3,436 Roger Mills 3,562 Harper 4,075 Ellis 4,743 Dewey 5,144 Grant 5,857 Beaver 6,031 Coal 6,061 Greer 6,105 Alfalfa 6,614 Cotton 6,818 Jefferson 7,545 McClain 8,831 Love 9,089 Woods 9,287 Tillman 10,227 Kiowa 10,513 Johnston 10,569 Nowata 10,692 Latimer 11,411 Noble 11,508 Washita 11,667 Pushmataha 11,792 Haskell 11,814 Okfuskee 11,976 Blaine 12,623 Murray 13,184 McCurtain 13,879 Atoka 13,926 Kingfisher 14,154 Hughes 14,950 Craig 15,342 Choctaw 16,612 Pawnee 18,486 Woodward 19,456 Mayes 19,799 Beckham 20,107 Texas 21,038 Adair 24,894 Seminole 26,142 Custer 27,210 Garvin 27,740 Major 28,439 Jackson 30,150 Caddo 32,080 Lincoln 33,194 Ottawa 33,924 Logan 34,402 Marshall 35,143 Pontotoc 36,534 Bryan 37,077 Delaware 38,369 McIntosh 38,972 Sequoyah 39,685 Okmulgee 42,521 Cherokee 43,182 Stephens 43,953 Pittsburg 44,437 Osage 45,516 Grady 45,621 Carter 48,080 Kay 48,109 Le Flore 48,996 Washington 57,491 Wagoner 57,813 Garfield 65,521 Pottawatomie 67,367 Creek 68,190 Payne 69,451 Muskogee 70,641 Rogers 87,697 Canadian 114,996 Comanche 208,016 Cleveland 563,299 Tulsa 660,448 Oklahoma 0 to 20,000 20,000 to 50,000 50,000 to 660,449 Oklahoma Counties 2000 Population © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

Complete Presentation has Map of 2000 Population Growth for Each County

The Next 2 Slides show the ethnicity of Oklahoma 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 Use

Complete Presentation has Graph of 2000 Ethnicity

The Next Graph shows the attendance numbers for the churches in Oklahoma in 1990 and Evangelicals, Catholics and overall attendance have grown, the Mainline has declined slightly. Unfortunately, as overall worship attendance has increased, the population has grown at a faster rate. 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. This graph reflects a decrease in the percentage of the population attending church. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

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

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 Oklahoma in 1990 and 2000. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

The 3 Next Charts show the relative strength of the 8 major denominational groups in Oklahoma. The first chart illustrates the strong influence of the Baptist churches. The second and third charts show the decline in the percentage of the population attending all denominations in Oklahoma, with the exception of the Pentecostal churches. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

Complete Presentation has Pie Chart of 2000 Attendance by Denominational Families

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

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. Among states in 2000, Arkansas has the lowest population per church with 411 people per church, Utah is the highest at 4,586 people per church. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

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

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

Percentage of Population in 2000 at Catholic churches
Adair Roger Mills Rogers Sequoyah 0.0% Pawnee 0.1% Johnston Okfuskee Haskell Bryan Wagoner 0.2% Le Flore McIntosh Nowata Atoka 0.3% Creek Pushmataha Hughes Washita 0.4% Mayes Delaware Major Beaver Cherokee 0.5% Jefferson Ellis Grady 0.6% Craig Choctaw 0.7% Cotton Coal Seminole McCurtain 0.8% Dewey Okmulgee Garvin Love 0.9% Pontotoc Ottawa Osage Kiowa 1.0% Caddo Lincoln Alfalfa 1.1% Murray 1.2% Latimer Harper Muskogee Carter 1.3% Payne Logan Greer Harmon Marshall McClain 1.4% Pottawatomie 1.6% Comanche Blaine 1.7% Stephens Pittsburg Noble 2.2% Tillman 2.3% Washington Custer Oklahoma 2.4% Cleveland 2.5% Jackson Woodward 2.6% Canadian 2.7% Woods 2.8% Beckham 3.0% Tulsa 3.1% Grant 3.2% Cimarron 3.3% Kay 3.4% Garfield 8.0% Kingfisher 10.1% Texas 0.0% to 1.0% 1.0% to 2.0% 2.0% to 11.1% No data Oklahoma Counties Percentage of Population in 2000 at Catholic churches on any Given Weekend Beige = High Rose = Medium Blue = Low © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

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. 26 counties grew in attendance percentage, while 51 counties declined. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

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

The Next 3 Maps show the growth or decline of attendance percentages for the Evangelical, Catholic and Mainline churches in each county in Oklahoma between 1990 and For evangelicals, 30 counties grew in attendance percentage, while 47 counties declined. For Mainline churches, 7 counties grew in attendance percentage, while 70 counties declined. For Catholics, 30 counties grew in attendance percentage, while 47 counties declined. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

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

Percentage of Population
-32.6% Le Flore -18.0% Mayes -17.7% McIntosh -16.3% Harper -16.1% Texas -16.0% Adair -14.9% Pontotoc -14.3% Marshall -14.2% Tulsa -13.3% Ellis -13.1% Wagoner -12.6% Grady -11.9% Logan Latimer -11.4% Jefferson -10.7% McClain -10.5% Kiowa -10.0% Hughes -9.0% Sequoyah -8.9% Beaver -8.4% Ottawa -8.0% Blaine -7.9% Bryan -7.8% Atoka -6.7% Caddo -6.2% Love -6.1% Garfield -5.7% Nowata -5.1% Alfalfa -4.8% Coal -4.7% Muskogee Cimarron -4.6% Comanche Murray -3.9% Beckham -3.5% Okmulgee -3.3% Noble Jackson -3.2% Seminole -3.1% Carter -3.0% Rogers -2.7% Woodward -2.4% Pawnee -1.7% Washington -1.0% Washita -0.4% Stephens -0.1% Greer 0.5% Payne 1.3% Choctaw 1.9% Garvin 2.0% Craig 2.4% Kingfisher 3.7% Pittsburg 4.0% Roger Mills Creek 5.4% Tillman 5.7% McCurtain Woods 6.7% Pottawatomie 8.1% Custer 8.7% Johnston 9.5% Cotton 9.9% Lincoln 10.8% Grant 10.9% Oklahoma 12.6% Cherokee 15.0% Major 16.3% Okfuskee 18.4% Canadian 20.5% Kay 21.3% Cleveland 23.2% Pushmataha 27.2% Dewey 28.2% Osage 33.2% Haskell 35.8% Harmon 74.6% Delaware Decline Growth Oklahoma Counties Growth or Decline in Percentage of Population at Catholic churches from Rose = Growth Blue = Decline © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

The Final Chart shows the net gain in the number of churches in Oklahoma in the past decade. There was a net loss of 36 churches. However, 602 churches were needed to keep up with population growth from © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

The State of the Church in Oklahoma . . .
Church attendance has grown for Evangelicals and Catholics numerically and has declined in the percentage of the population attending all three groups. Evangelicals grew by 30,000 in attendance but were unable to keep up with population growth. The percentage of the population attending church has decreased in all group, resulting in a 4.4% loss in the state-wide percentage of the population that attended church between 1990 and 2000. A major factor in the overall decline is the insufficient net gain in the number of churches in Oklahoma. Six hundred and thirty-eight additional churches needed to have been started in the previous decade to compensate for the decline in percentage attendance. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

For More Information . . . Please go to for additional information on the American Church. 12 Surprising Facts about the American Church is available at The complete Oklahoma Powerpoint presentation is available at The Complete Oklahoma City Powerpoint presentation is available at The Complete Tulsa Powerpoint presentation is available at A Combo Pack (12 Surprising Facts, Oklahoma, Oklahoma City & Tulsa Powerpoints) is available at © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

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 1/3rd 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 Use

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 Use

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

The State of the Church in Oklahoma

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