While 20-somethings pull out of traditional churches, more people are leaving organized churches altogether, according to revolutionary pollster George Barna. Your new competitor is not the church down the street, but the house next door. Here is how Barna sizes up the House Church experience:
Average size of gathering: 20 people (including 7 children in gatherings with kids)
Gatherings including kids: 64%
Of those, kids meeting with adults for whole session: 41%
House churches meeting weekly: 80%
Average length of service: 2 hours
Include formal teaching: 76%
Eat as well as meet: 85%
Satisfaction with spiritual depth of the experience: 59%
Satisfaction with personal connectedness: 66%
Attenders who have met with their house church one year or less: 75%
Stats found here
Interesting .... but also unfortunately a high proportion of those surveyed are also members of 'normal' churches ...
http://www.barna.org shows that of all those surveyed
- 19% attend both a house church & normal church
- 5% attend only a house church
Hence, it appears of those Barna surveyed, only 5/24 = 20% are only part of a house church ... the other 80% of people linked to a 'house church' are also linked to a normal church ... this probably skews the data