In 2014, Lifeway Research found that 4,000 churches opened their doors, and 3,700 closed their doors. In 2019, those numbers changed: 3,000 new churches started, and 4,500 closed. The rate of church planting does not keep up with the rate of church closures, which makes the opportunity and need for revitalization even more crucial.

There are several reasons for this. Church planting has become increasingly expensive. In 2019, the typical range for a church in the United Methodist denomination was $300,000 – $500,000. While many conference speakers will use the stat that 80% of church plants fail, NAMB (The North American Mission Board) has found that 68% of church plants are thriving. That expense is difficult to justify in a region like New England, where church attendance has continued to decrease. One reason is the cost of bringing a church planter to New England. The cost of living in Massachusetts is 47% higher than the national average. We have had incredible difficulty getting a family to move from another part of the country because of the cost of living and housing. 

While churches have decreased and closed nationwide, New England’s numbers are incredibly disheartening. The states with the lowest church attendance are Vermont (17% in weekly attendance), New Hampshire (20%), Maine (20%), and Massachusetts (21%). In Massachusetts, 59% of the population seldom or never attends church. “Missiologist J.D. Payne has surveyed individual cities and found New England cities to be the least in total evangelical percentage – Pittsfield, MA (1.5%), Barnstable-Yarmouth, MZ (1.5%), Providence, RI (1.7%), Boston (2.5%), Hartford, CT (2.7%), Burlington, VT (2.9%) and Bangor, ME (3.5%). These and other factors have caused many to consider New England an “unreached people group.” The church I lead is 10 minutes outside of Providence, RI. 

Some have pointed out that the reason for church decline is generational. 

According to Nick Blevins, the average church has a 10-15% attrition rate yearly. But people are attending church less. According to Ryan Burge, in 2022, 39% of Americans never attended church, up from 35% in 2020. He also found that “The number of those who never attend church has doubled in the last 15 years, reaching 85 million.” 

One study states, “The average congregation size across Christian denominations is less than half what it was in 2000 – down to 65 from 137.” About 65-85 percent of American congregations have plateaued or are declining. Mainline denominations stopped growing around 1965. Some congregations along the way made the painful switch of adding a contemporary service and grew until about 2005. But since then, many congregations have struggled, unsure of how to reach young adults who do not fit historic congregations.

And while there are stories of churches beginning and growing, regionally, half of all congregations in the US are in the South. As a comparison, there are 1,393 congregations per million residents in the South compared to 750 congregations per million residents in the Northeast.

What is it about the Northeast that creates such difficulty for churches? Why are there fewer churches per resident than in any other part of the country? One of the challenges is relationships within New England. Nate Pichowicz, a pastor in New Hampshire, points out, “Robert Frost, a native New Englander, published his poem, “Mending Wall” in 1914: a sort-of literary commentary on rural New England life from the perspective of a farmer. In the poem, two neighboring farmers meet in the Spring, walking along the stone wall which marks out their property line. The narrator questions the purpose of the wall, but his neighbor only responds with the proverbial maxim, “Good fences make good neighbors.” 

While Frost did not originate this line, he no doubt made it famous. The sentiment undergirds the New England temperament, as it explores the tension between all communal relationships in the Northeast. New Englanders are reserved and guarded, tentative and contemplative, self-reliant and proud, principled and often stubborn. While not necessarily cold, we are not known for our “northern hospitality,” rather, we keep to ourselves. Despite our desire for friends, we struggle to embrace communal living.”

If you read American history, you know that the colonies began in New England, meaning Christianity in America started here. But it didn’t just begin there. Historian Harry Stout said, “In New England, the church would be central. New England’s mission began with the church.” But the church or New England lost its way somewhere along the way.