The headlines about the church in America often focus on decline—but that’s not the whole story. The numbers have steadied from the post-COVID freefall, and in many places, congregations are seeing attendance and engagement rebound. But here’s the real question: Are we satisfied that the decline has slowed, or are we ready to measure how much we’re actually gaining?
In this episode, Ken and Kris unpack the latest national and denominational data on church attendance, evangelism, and spiritual openness. They explain why the problem isn’t that “the church isn’t working,” but that most churches are running on a single, attractional gear—while Jesus modeled a balanced missional ecosystem that includes corporate gatherings, mid-sized communities, micro-disciple-making ecosystems (XGroups), and everyday missionary living.
You’ll hear:
This conversation will challenge your metrics, encourage your heart, and help you imagine what’s possible when the church moves beyond measuring “less loss” to pursuing missional success.
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My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.