Among the many signs of increasing health and growth in the International Churches of Christ are the results of the latest Disciples Today Church Survey.

God continues to bless us with a consistent growth since 2006. See this summary as well as other articles on our global membership, turnaround in our growth rate, victories and challenges.

Click here to download a copy of the complete report.

International Churches of Christ
2009 Membership Survey

Summary

The 2009 survey shows a continuing trend of approximately 4.4% growth since 2006.

• God grew our total membership by approximately 4,000 members from 2006 to 2009.
• At the end of 2009, the ICOC has about 92,544 members in 574 churches in 143 countries.
• For churches that participated in both the 2007 and 2009 surveys, about the same number of churches reported growth as those who reported decline or zero growth.
• Turnaround among our largest churches has become clear. For the first time since 2001, our 20 largest churches reported a net gain in membership.
• 429 churches have committed to the Plan for United Cooperation. These represent 81,646 disciples or 88% of our total membership. Click here to see the complete list.

Background

• ICOC membership grew dramatically to a high of 135.000 in 2002 followed by a large decrease to about 88,597 in 2006 during our crisis. Our attendance has always been significantly higher than our membership due to the commitment of our members and the addition of children and guests in our services.

• The 2007 survey indicated a slight growth in membership to just over 90,000, and the 2009 survey confirms that our overall membership has grown approximately 4.4% since 2006.

• The 2009 survey indicates that the membership losses of 2003-2005 have not only stopped, but that as a family of churches the ICOC is growing again at a slower, steadier rate than in years past, approximately 1.5% per year.

• Since 2003, participation in the surveys has been voluntary. Of the 574 churches we counted in the 2009 survey, only 27 did not report membership (4% of churches). Each year we conservatively estimate the membership of the non-reporting portion of churches. For those not reporting to the 2009 survey, we simply used the last reported membership.

Help with Future Surveys

Disciples Today is gathering the data and providing the analysis for the ICOC Church Membership Survey. Many thanks to Paul Ramsey of Columbia, South Carolina and others for hours of tireless service as volunteers.

1) Gathering the church survey updates. This survey required four months and hundreds of phone calls, emails, etc. It seems to be much more efficient for the various regional families of churches to gather the data and send it to Disciples Today for compilation, analysis and reporting.

2) Determining the basic data that are Vital Signs. While we have matured in our view of statistics, we have seen that neither overreporting nor underreporting are helpful to sowing, watering and God’s giving the increase. In caring for the body of Christ, certain additional Vital Signs can be gathered to give basic information of the health of our churches: attendance, baptisms, restorations, etc.

3) Central Contact Database: Key church leader contact info to communicate and connect churches in 145 countries. Evangelist, Elder, Teacher, Administrator, Campus, Youth, Singles, Web, etc. This would help all Cooperation Service Teams and various ministries.


See other articles on our global membership, turnaround in our growth rate, victories and challenges.

Click here to download a copy of the complete report.

Click the Church Locator tab at the top of any page of Disciples Today to see the list of ICOC churches and links to their websites.