Let's do a little exercise shall we? Ready? Count the amount of money spent on all things youth and children related in your church. Include youth pastors, children's ministers, programs, buildings, etc. Absolutely everything that is child or youth related throughout the year.
Got the number? Good.
Now count up the amount of money that is put towards the men in the church. Men's ministry, men's retreats, conferences aimed at men...everything. Got the number? Alright. What's the difference?
If you're like 99% of most churches, your first number is in the tens to hundreds of thousands a year. Your second number, if there is one, is very tiny. A couple thousand tops...right? Now why am I bringing this up? Good question.
Statistics show that when children of a non-Christian family are converted, only 10% of the time do the rest of the family follow suit. When the mothers are the first to convert, the number jumps to a 40% success rate for the rest of the family. The men? If the man converts, the rest of the family converts 90% of the time.
Considering the other scary statistic is that there is virtually NO DIFFERENCE in divorce rate between the evangelical church and the secular society. I wonder if that money could be better spent elsewhere...
Where are those stats from?
ReplyDeleteMy numbers most of the time come from a Barna study or from the Doctoral studies of Dr. Voddie Baucham. With regards to these numbers specifically, I can't remember where I got them. This one sounds very much like a Baucham study and I have most likely taken these numbers from a lecture I heard and not from a published dissertation. Do you think these numbers are off? BTW, I'll keep looking for the actual study done to produce the numbers. When I find it I'll let you know.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I hope marriage and daddy-hood treat you well!
ReplyDelete