5 Reasons Why Non-Denominational Churches Are Growing

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While we continue to see reports of denominational decline in America, we see fewer reports of the growth of non-denominational churches. It is actually an amazing story.

Two denominations that receive a lot of attention are the Southern Baptist Convention and the United Methodist Church. These two denominations have historically been the two largest Protestant denominations in the United States. The UMC has been in a steady decline for years, but that decline has been exacerbated by the departure of thousands of congregations in the past three years. The denomination’s membership decline will likely be 40 percent from its peak after the full effect of the disaffiliation movement transpires. UMC attendance in the United States has fallen from around 3 million to about 2 million. The numbers again will likely be much worse after the full disaffiliation effect takes place.

The Southern Baptist Convention’s peak membership was 16.2 million in 2006. In 2022, it was 13.2 million. Even more telling are the attendance numbers. The SBC’s peak weekly attendance was 6.2 million in 2009. By 2022, weekly attendance declined to 3.8 million. That decline in attendance is almost 40% in 13 years! (By the way, if you want to get great quantitative research on churches, subscribe to Ryan Burge at Graphs about Religion).

Non-Denominational Growth

According to Burge, 13 percent of total American adults now identify as non-denominational. That is more than all mainline denominations combined. It is also more than the two largest Protestant denominations (the SBC and the UMC) combined.

Burge notes that the “nons” is the second biggest story in American Christianity (The rise of the “nones” is the biggest story. ). While he reports the information from a statistical viewpoint, we at Church Answers are attempting to answer the “why” question. Why are non-denominational churches growing while most all denominations are declining? We see five possible answers to this question.

Five Reasons

We must be careful with our attempts to explain the growth of the non-denominational movement. First, our information is anecdotal rather than data based. Though our team at Church Answers interacts with thousands of church leaders and church members, we have not conducted a rigorous statistical study on this group.

Second, non-denominational churches are far from monolithic. They vary in worship style, doctrine, polity, and many other points. Those variables make analysis even more difficult. Nevertheless, we offer five reasons from our observations.

1. Non-denominational churches tend to be more evangelistic. For a number of possible reasons, these congregations are more intentional about reaching their communities with the gospel. We often see stark contrasts in the priority of evangelism between non-denominational churches and denominational churches.

2. Non-denominational churches typically invest more financially in reaching their communities. Though I could have combined the first two reasons, it is worth noting that the budget of a non-denominational church will often include a higher percentage of their funds used for local evangelism. Denominational church budgets usually allocate more funds for national denominational causes.

3. Non-denominational churches usually do not engage in issues of conflict to the level that denominational churches do. A church has only a finite amount of resources of time, money, and energy. The more that is expended on divisive issues, the less that can be expended on local outreach. We understand that many of these issues are gospel-centric and must be discussed and debated. Sadly, though, the resources spent on these issues often come at the expense of those priorities with a Great Commission focus.

4. Non-denominational churches do not carry the “name” baggage that a denominational church might carry. I think this issue can be overstated. A church with “Baptist” or “Methodist” or “Presbyterian” in its name can still be effective and can still grow. It is hard to know how many unchurched people decide not to visit a denominational church because of its name. Admittedly, though, if it’s a small percentage of the unchurched who make such a decision, that small percentage can have a big negative impact.

5. Non-denominational churches tend to be newer churches that grow faster than older churches. I hope our team can pursue a statistically valid study of the age of churches in America. I think it will confirm our anecdotal observations. The rapid growth of the non-denominational movement is a relatively recent phenomenon. That means many of the non-denominational churches are newer. These newer churches tend to focus more on local growth and evangelism.

We will continue to explore the fascinating topic on the “nons,” including the research of Burge. But I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Let me hear from you.

Posted on December 11, 2023


With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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32 Comments

  • I’ve noticed over the years that more and more denominational churches are choosing names that don’t have the denomination’s name in it. Although our church is a part of a denomination, and we are open about it, we often get asked, by new guests and outsiders, if we are a non-denominational church. We’ve doubled in size since 2020, but we are in one of the fast growing areas in the country.

  • Hello Tom…my first thought was most
    denominations are not born again/John 3:3…
    when I think of Christian, I think religion…
    no power…
    Christ follower means Relationship with
    Our Exquisite FatherGod, Lord Jesus,
    Holy Spirit…h u g e difference…the first,
    you just profess…the second you Possess!!!
    Still soaring…in my 28th year!!!!!!!
    May you and yours have a JOYous season
    Celebrating Jesus!!!!!!!!⚓️⚓️⚓️

  • Thom, I appreciate this blog article. You and I are the same age. Most of our parents’ generation were company men. They started and stayed with one or two jobs their entire career. Loyalty to the brand was considered a virtue. That loyalty bled over into religion. Folks were Baptist, Methodist, or Pentecostal because that was their brand. The same brand loyalty is less among the boomers and even more so within the following generations. Do I drive a Ford or Chevy because Dad did, or am I going to get the best bang for my buck, even if that means driving a Kia?
    It stands to reason that people will attend a church that best ministers to their needs and where they can best feel they are a part of a God-blessed community.
    The name on the door might have some impact but the good testimony and word on the street, i/e positive word-of-mouth testimony in the marketplace is paramount.

  • This is a great article, but I wonder if one of the reasons for decline in denominational churches, and conversely growth potential in ‘nons’ is the fact that some of our legacy congregations are crippled by people who don’t want change? I see it in the fellowship I belong to, we spend time and energy tiptoeing around awkward members, at the expense of real Kingdom work.

    • Thom Rainer says on

      Simon –

      While there are always exceptions, I do think older churches are more likely to be change resistant that newer churches.

      • Thom, honestly, I find it really disheartening, I’m travelling with business for 2 weeks, which gave me the opportunity to visit a younger city church on Sunday, and it was inspiring to see the vibrancy, and people worshipping wholeheartedly. It wasn’t overly charismatic, I don’t think I’d like that, but at one point I saw someone drop to their knees to pray. It was lovely. They briefly explain their vision at the start of every service. The preaching was great. I was greeted outside the door, and by people sitting nearby too. People were engaged. We don’t do that. We have people who leave in protest if the service runs ten minutes over. I really wonder if it’s possible to turn such a situation around.

  • You can find the UMC data here:

    https://www.umdata.org
    At the end of 2021, the attendance stands at 1.3 million. Membership at 5.7 million.

    The disaffiliated churches (that departed away from the denomination) statistics can be found here:
    https://www.umnews.org/en/news/disaffiliations-approved-by-annual-conferences
    At the time of this reply posting (Dec. 11, 2023), disaffiliated church numbers are 7655. (up from 2000s at the start of the year)

    • Thom Rainer says on

      Thank you for these sources, JR. They are helpful and show the effects of disaffiliation to be much greater than I estimated.

  • Danny M. Crow says on

    Why is the SBC declining (and I might say “precipitously” if the trends are accurately portrayed)? Here’s a possible reason: As one who was actively involved in the “conservative resurgence” of the late 70’s –2000, we young pastors were duped by power hungry and power grabbing and power enriching “leaders” who had selfish motivation, devious intent, and out-sized reputational importance. They led like brazen generals who did not care about methods and collateral damage to achieve their “noble” goal. If one were doing a forensic analysis of that leadership–one would find corrupt morality individually, processes that cried “inurement!” and “revenge”. Leaders received personal benefit and created public chaos and pain. . . all for the purpose of maintaining a “godly heritage” and “reaching America and the world for Christ”. . . and all the while Christ wept as His ONE command He gave to His disciples–“Love one another as I have loved you” was abandoned for “love of the truth”. One might ask “which truth” or “whose truth” since Jesus was obviously ignored. Having attempted to work with various agency leadership (Executive Committee, NAMB) through over 4 decades and being defrauded and frustrated by SBC leadership’s fear of engaging our most pressing national issues, I realized the tribe that had been “my home” was no more. I value and maintain relationships with local (association) and state (convention) pastors and leadership; but I chose to disaffiliate with SBC because it ceased being Baptist in its approach. The CP gradually became the coercive program–tragic indeed. And freedom of conscious and soul competency became dusty historical markers, not the ringing beacons of “If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed”-. A word about perspective: My pastorates and ministry work were in deep south (MS Delta), urban north (Pittsburgh-15 yrs) and suburban/urban Mid-Atlantic (urban Baltimore 7 yrs, suburban MD 25+ years).

    • Thom Rainer says on

      Danny –

      The SBC trends represent the data submitted by the churches. I assume the numbers are correct, but I have no other data beyond that.

  • Bobby Blasingame says on

    This is an interesting article, and I agree. I was raised SBC, served as a student pastor in SBC church’s from the time I was 20 to 40 years old. I took my first role as the Lead Pastor of a church 3 years ago. For the first time, I found myself on staff pastoring a non-denominational church that started in 2015. It was in the middle of the pandemic, but since then we have grown every year. The church is larger now than it was before the pandemic. For 2023 we have seen a 40% increase in attendance. There are new faces every week, and they seem to return and bring their friends. We are not in a large city. We are in a town of 5800 in rural Arkansas. It is interesting that I never intended on leaving the SBC, and did not pursue this church because it was non-denominational. But I am loving it. To quote a friend of mine: “I feel like a turtle on a fencepost! I am not sure how I got here, but the view is spectacular!”

  • Mark Miller says on

    I believe you are spot on with your analysis. I cannot tell you how many times people have told me they were not coming to a “Baptist” church until they came once and were shocked. It is definitely a barrier that can only be overcome by intentional outreach and a church that emphasizes personally inviting people to church. That said, I also agree that it doesn’t matter what the church sign says, if the Holy Spirit is at work, the church will have great impact. But I honestly think if I were starting a church today from scratch, I’d leave the name Baptist out of its name, so not to create an unnecessary barrier.

  • Rick Nowlin says on

    My own church is bucking the trend. We’ve been in “revival” for some 30 years now due to a commitment to not only prayer but also community service — and on top of that, we also focused on racial and cultural diversity and linking it to the Gospel. My church is CMA, a small denomination, and the denomination is in the name of the church, but I think it’s a matter of energy and younger leadership.

    • Thom Rainer says on

      Rick –

      I am always excited to hear about churches that are outliers to the negative trends. Thank you for sharing.

  • Is there a way you can put this as a PDF so I can share it with my staff

  • I am not terribly surprised by even this anecdotal information. When I see and hear how mainline denominations are adopting political platforms and not evangelistic Gospel driven processes. A long time ago, a friend asked me what I would do if my denomination fell? I never thought it would. But the answer then and now is this…I am a Christian first . It is Christ Jesus that saves not the sbc. I’m praying for renewal-revival of the SBC !

  • Thom,
    Because denominational churches are usually older than non-denominational churches, they are also burdened with layers of history, precedent, and policy. The church we are attending has a Constitution and Bylaw document 19 pages long, single spaced, in 10-pt font. In congregational polity, churches have likely established a strong political hierarchy among lay leadership. Consequently, it is nearly impossible for such a church to pivot quickly to address urgent needs.

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