But it would seem the larger churches are able to retain more converts. Investing in our existing congregations makes more sense. Large churches do produce gains in the Church of the Nazarene, but it is important to realize that new churches also produce excellent growth. In worship and membership gain, then, our best results came from our newest congregations. While new Nazarenes were significant in our new works, the more established congregations did proportionately as well in outreach.
Retention seems to be better in our new congregations, however.
We do want our churches to grow better than they have, and we do not want to disparage the evangelism in our older congregations. Still, the most effective evangelism in the Church of the Nazarene of Canada and the United States is through the growth of new churches. Back to the index. Participation is open to those interested in the sociology of religion as applied to the Church of the Nazarene. All rights reserved.