Ministry Marketing CoachMinistry Branding and Marketing that Works

Everyone, it seems, has a book, seminar,or innovative idea these days that is impacting how they look at ministry. Some ministry leaders are focused reading on questions of leadership and innovation as they look for ways to improve their ministry. Others are attending seminars learning how to amp-up the production values of their worship services.

On the more crass side, others are even talking about ways to cannibalize the memberships of existing churches through merger acquisition to enlarge their organization. A few even think if they’ll just stop wearing a necktie, throngs of unchurched will flock to their doors.

But a few are doing what missionaries do. They are less concerned with where people go to church and more concerned about who has a chance to hear the gospel. These faithful few are actually looking at the trends seen in the populations of people to whom they will be ministering the gospel in the future.

Become Your Own Futurist

You can do it too if you read all the free information available from the US Census and look at books on population trends you will see some powerful trends that will impact ministry in the next two decades. Use the information to help you plan your long-range evangelistic ministry.

Here’s a real page turner from the government to get you started:

• CURRENT POPULATION REPORTS, Population Projections of the United States by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin: 1995 to 2050, P25-1130

This report talks about trends that you will want to know about for your ministry planning. I have taken a few highlights from the report and reproduced them below. The text and graphs below are from the report. The headings are mine.

Population Trends through 2050

1. Look for an increase in number and percentage of Anglo elderly starting 2010

Shifts in the age distributions will be fairly stable between 1995 and 2010, however, after 2010 there will a rapid increase in the percent elderly as the share of the adult population declines in all regions.

The size of the elderly population is projected to increase in all States over the 30 years. The aging of the Baby Boom population after 2010 will have a dramatic impact on the growth of the elderly population. By the year 2025, the survivors of the Baby Boom will be between the ages of 61 and 79. The average annual rate of change in the proportion of population 65 years and over for States shows only minor growth or loss during the periods 1995 to 2010. During the period 2010 to 2025 all States shows a rapid acceleration in the growth of the elderly population.

2. There will be a decrease in the Anglo share of population starting 2016

The non-Hispanic White share of the U.S. population would steadily fall from 74 percent in 1995 to 72 percent in 2000, 64 percent in 2020, and 53 percent in 2050. After 2016, more Blacks than non-Hispanic Whites would be added to the population each year.

3. A continued decline in the percent of youth and children population since 1995

Over the 30 year period, the Nation’s youth population (ages 0 to 19 years) is projected to decline as a fraction of the total population. In 1995, the Nation’s youth was 29 percent of the total population. A drop of two percentage points in the youth rate is expected over the three decades. During 1995 to 2025, all regions are expected to show a decline in the proportion of the population that is under 20 years of age.

4. There will be an increase in dependency rates in USA through 2025

The dependency ratio indicates the number of youth (under age 20) and elderly (ages 65 and over) there would be for every 100 people of working ages (20 to 64 years). In 1995, the dependency ratio for regions ranged from 70 to 73 per 100. By 2025 all regions show an increase in the dependency ratio, while the range among the regions widens. The West would have the highest dependency ratio (85 per 100 adults). Both the South and Midwest, are projected to have the mid-range dependency ratios (83 per 100 adults), while the Northeast (79 per 100 adults) has the smallest.

5. The USA will continually be increasing in ethnic diversity of the population skewing toward Hispanics

The race/ethnic groups with the highest rates of increase would be the Hispanic-origin and the Asian and Pacific Islander populations with annual growth rates that may exceed 2 percent until 2030. In comparison, even at the peak of the Baby Boom era, the total U.S. population never grew by 2 percent in a year.

Every year from now to 2050, the race/ethnic group adding the largest number of people to the population would be the Hispanic-origin population. In fact, after 2020 the Hispanic population is projected to add more people to the United States every year than would all other race/ethnic groups combined. By 2010, the Hispanic origin population may become the second-largest race/ethnic group.

By the year 2030, the non-Hispanic White population would be less than half of the U.S. population under age 18. In that year, this group would still comprise three quarters of the 65 and over population.