Download the Q3 2023 Unstuck Church Report
Every quarter, The Unstuck Group compiles all the data we’ve collected to monitor trends in churches in the United States. For this quarter’s report, we only included churches that provided data between July 14 and August 2, 2023.
We received survey responses from 288 churches that ranged in size from under 100 to over 8,000 in physical attendance for worship gatherings. The average in-person attendance of churches that participated was 623 people. This provides a very current snapshot of ministries of all shapes and sizes.
My Findings from the Q3 2023 Unstuck Church Report
This is the story that I’m seeing based on this quarter’s Unstuck Church Report and the conversations I’ve been having almost daily with pastors and church leaders:
- People are meeting Jesus. I’m very encouraged by the number of people who made decisions to follow Jesus by indicating salvation or baptism in the last year. On average, a church with 1,000 people in attendance celebrated 100 people crossing the line of faith! That’s a huge win.
- Church attendance has largely recovered, but church engagement is still lagging. People have come back for Sunday services, but they still are not connecting with other people in groups and on serving teams.
- That may be why churches are investing heavily in staffing. Churches are more likely to be over-staffed right now. Are churches hiring more people because fewer people are volunteering? If churches hire more people, will people be less likely to volunteer?
- Churches, for the most part, continue to remain in a healthy financial position. On average, churches have more than enough cash reserves and very little debt. It seems that there is financial margin for churches to begin making some bold moves to accomplish the Gospel mission.
- Nearly half of the churches who have taken our Unstuck Church Assessment in the last year self-identified that they are in the “maintenance” phase of the church life cycle. That’s way too many churches.
There’s a lot more that we will cover in this quarter’s report, but I hope you find this summary both encouraging and challenging.
Get Your FREE Copy of The Q3 2023 Unstuck Church Report
This quarter’s Unstuck Church Report consists of 20 metrics that highlight trends with an impact on church health. We focus on 4 key areas to give you benchmarks and an objective look at where the Church may be headed:
- Ministry Reach
- Ministry Connection
- Ministry Staffing & Structure
- Ministry Finances
The report also features updated data on the church lifecycle, a summary of the data by church size, and additional insights from report sponsor Christian Financial Resources.
Subscribe today and get The Unstuck Church Report for free each quarter:
