Church Growth Insights – Australia

Anyone doing research on the growth of the Church in America will tell you there is a serious problem. In the younger age group of the Millennials (born 1984-2000), only one in ten attends Church. And this is the generation that has to carry the church to the next generation. Most of the current Church funding is from the Builders (born 1926-1945). This indicates a serious problem for the future of the Church. If you look, however, God is raising up the Church in a new a different form from what many of us grew up with. The message hasn’t changed. God is in the business of restoring us to Himself and the relationship He had with Man in the Garden. And Jesus made and makes it possible.In Australia, the NCLS (National Church Life Survey) reported that Church attendance, in general, declined 7% from 1996 to 2001. Mainline denominations carried the main part of this decline. Roman Catholics, the major denomination in Australia, declined by 13% during this period. The Anglicans, the next is size, declined 2%. Even the mainline Protestants showed little growth – The Baptists grew by 8%. The Anglican and Protestant denominations together grew by only 1%, not enough to offset the Catholic loss.Even with the 7% total loss, however, there were some solid increases. This was primarily in the evangelical pentecostal churches. The Apostolic and Assembly of God churches each grew by 20%.What is really dramatic, however, is the growth of a “movement” that has shown such a remarkable increase that it is already being labeled by researchers as a denomination. The Christian City Churches grew 47% during this same time period. Who are they and why are they growing so fast?Christian City Churches started as a church plant with 12 people in 1980 by Pastors Phil and Chris Pringle on a northern beach in Sidney, Australia. It is now known as Christian City Church of Oxford Falls and is one of the largest churches in Australia, with a membership of over 6000. It has three ministry schools and has planted over 35 churches. The movement itself is now international and has churches in North America, New Zealand, Europe, and other countries. It is evangelical and pentecostal, with high energy worship services that draw a large number of young people – the lost generation in other churches. The churches are highly relational (another young people draw) with emphasis servant leadership based on spiritual gifts.If you google Christian City Church, you will get a large base of web pages. Some are duplication the NCLS information and others are the web sites of the individual churches. We’ve tried to select some of the best sites. These sites are listed for dialog purposes – you may agree or disagree on what the author says about the Christian faith or their perception of CCC. Some writers are confusing this movement with the emerging church label, and there are some clear distinctives that separate CCC from this. Remember this in reading these articles, some of which are lengthy.Christian City Churches InternationalThe Christian City Church of Atlanta (from the Atlanta Journal Constitution and recommended by my pastor)Wikipedia article on Christian City ChurchesRecent Speakers at the Oxford Falls ChurchThe New Believers by Diana BagnallJumping on the Bandwagon by Hughie SeabornCharisma Article (no longer online?)If you are in the Portland, Oregon area you can taste this more directly and even (if the Lord leads you) decide to become a part of it. Bethlehem Church is exploring a merger with Southgate City Church of Wilsonville. Southgate is pretty far along in the process of becoming a Christian City Church. If we join with them, we would become a CCC church as well. Services are Sunday Mornings starting at 10:00 AM at the Bethlehem Church site in Lake Oswego.