Antioch Collective

There's a Massive Shortage of Churches that Make Disciples

A few years ago, a major national study was published that revealed that of the approximately 350,000 churches in the United States, four out of five were either plateaued or declining. Of the 15% of churches that were growing, less than 1% of those were growing through conversions. Around 99% of growing churches were doing so through membership transfer from one congregation to another - not from making disciples.

In the years following this study, church attendance has declined further in the United States. Between the rise of the "nones" (individuals in the United States claiming no religious affiliation) and the Covid pandemic that wreaked havoc on regular church attendance, strong church ties are becoming more and more rare and the United States has become one of the most "unchurched" countries in the modern world.

We need Communities of Disciplemakers

Numerous studies show that the best way a healthy church can respond to this growing problem is through the planting of additional healthy churches. At Antioch Collective, we believe the best approach is for healthy local churches to bear the burden of this responsibility.

Our goal is to make resources available and to foster relationships between church leaders to assist local churches in starting their own regionally supported church planting movements. We would like to see healthy, disciplemaking churches planted that have the planting of additional evangelistic congregations ingrained in their DNA.