New Research: 5 Types of Givers in Your Church
“Tithe” means ten percent. And lots of people still believe in the tithe, in giving ten percent of their income. In fact, according to LifeWay Research, more churchgoers believe tithing is for today than pastors believe it. Some believe tithing was an Old Testament command and in the New Testament we are simply told to […]
New Research, Culture, and Systems on How Churches Welcome Guests
Every church sends a message through how they welcome and treat guests. Those with no strategy send the loudest message: “What we believe has not impacted how we treat you.” Not to be hospitable is to prove the message of God’s grace hasn’t impacted the totality of the church. Hospitality is the combination of two […]
Research and Thoughts on Billy Graham’s Legacy and Leadership
There is no doubt that Billy Graham has been used by the Lord to bring people to Christ, to expand His kingdom, and to give us a great example of faithfulness. There is the quantitative (the data) and the qualitative (the stories) about Billy Graham’s legacy. On the quantitative, we know some remarkable stats through […]
5 Truths from 10 Years of Discipleship Research
Jesus gave His people a clear mission—to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). For this reason, a local church exists to make disciples. C.S. Lewis challenged: The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, everything else is simply a […]
Are Christians Worse Than Others at Relationships?
In the later part of 2014, LifeWay Research conducted a poll of an ethnically and religiously diverse sampling of Americans. The research gauged each participant’s perspective on his or her relationships through a series of questions. The responses from Evangelical Christians polled during the survey were surprising. Evangelicals were 14-21% more likely to strongly agree […]
What People Want from Your Groups
Ed Stetzer, Micah Fries, and I are currently working on a new book, Transformational Groups, based on insights gleaned from a massive research project conducted on small groups (including classes, Bible fellowships, etc). In one phase of the research, the research team at LifeWay Research surveyed and interviewed people who were once in a group but […]