| Research |
Thinking and Providing Biblical and Grace Centered Theological Resources for the Church
One of our main current tasks at FSICLD is research, using Schaeffer's ideas as well as researching his materials, for the purpose to make insights and application for church leaders and pastors to help lead the church into a better more biblical direction.
This is what we found, and it is not pretty: Our churches are not glorifying Christ because we are failing at knowing and growing in Him personally. We are not able to teach others when we are failing at following His Word and Christ alone! Remember, it is His Church and we are the caretakers of it. Thus, we must act according to our call and His precepts.
Jesus' teaching and the New Testament Church make plain that while there is 'the invisible Church', yet the Church is not to be hidden away, in an unseen area, as though it does not matter what men see. What we are called to do upon the basis of the unfinished work of Christ in the power of the Spirit through faith, is to exhibit a substantial healing, individual and then corporate, so that men may observe it. Here too is a portion of the apologetic: a presentation which gives at least some demonstration that these things are neither theoretical nor a new dialectic, but real; not perfect, yet substantial. If we only speak of and exhibit the individual effects of the Gospel, the world, psychologically conditioned as it is today, will explain them away. What the world cannot explain away will be a substantial, corporate exhibition of the logical conclusions of the Christian presuppositions. It is not true that the New Testament presents an individualistic concept of salvation. Individual, yes: we must come one at a time; but it is not individualistic only. First there must be the individual reality, and then the corporate. Neither will be perfect in this life, but they must be real.- Francis A. Schaeffer, (The God Who is There)
- Why Churches Fail, 1994-1996, 1998- 2006, ongoing
- Pastors Personal Lives, 1992-2007, ongoing
- Bible Literacy, 1978-1987, 1997-1999, 2004-present
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Church Trends, 1978-1982, 1990-2000, ongoing
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Why People in Church Fight? 1980-1985, 1995-1998, ongoing
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Relevance and of Leadership Training as Compared to Actuality of practice, 1986-1998
- Biblical Stewardship verses Postmodern Thinking, 2001-2004
- Fruit of the Spirit as a Biblical Mandate verses Actual Practice in American Churches 2008- ongoing
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Statistical Overviews
Statistics on Why Churches Fail
Are you willing to take an honest look at some of the reasons why people are not coming to your church?
Statistics and Reasons for Church Decline
God's marvelous Church has become culturally irrelevant and even distant from is prime purpose of knowing Him, growing in Him, and worshipping Him by making disciples! This is evidenced by what is going on in our culture and in our church. Most of the statistics tell us that...
After over 18 years of researching pastoral trends and many of us being a pastor, we have found (this data is backed up by other studies) that pastors are in a dangerous but needed occupation!
Church Growth Research Graphs and Statistics
We compared over 1,103 churches for 15 years to what constitutes a healthy church from our other research. The churches surveyed and tracked include reports from 23 denominations. Said earlier research pointed to 44 significant growth factors. We then complied and compared growth and failure rates:
More articles and curriculum distilled from our research available at: Research Findings & Why Churches Fail channels
· The Real Issues!
· Patterns that are Visible!
· Opportunities for Growth!