IgniteAmerica
Certified Statistics

Exhaustive, multi-sourced statistics that document the state (or decline) of Christianity in America.

Ignite America Certified Statistics are unparalleled, as they represent the consensus of three or more highly regarded research studies, compiled from thousands of hours of in-depth research on all church-related studies, by Dr. Doug Petersen, Oxford Center for Mission Studies.

Research Studies often have wide variations in their findings. By consolidating the findings of three or more research studies, Ignite America Certified Statistics provide highly credible data for ministries, pastors and lay people making serious decisions.

Affiliations

Religious affiliations are the designations given to people of faith that best describe their belief system, i.e.: Protestant, Catholic, Evangelical, Pentecostal, Non-Christian Faiths, and those with no faith.

The big story in this category is the rise of “Nones,” people who no longer belong to any religious tradition or denomination. “Nones” are the only affiliation that’s growing and now outnumber Evangelicals, the largest of all faith-based affiliations in America.


While our First Amendment rights were being violated with the forced closing of our churches, church attendance increased 43%!

Did church attendance increase after the COVID lockdown?

As was the case with 9-11 and the market crash of 2008, fear and uncertainty from the COVID pandemic has been a great motivator for people to come to God. The fields are white for harvest! It’s never been easier to start faith conversations with family and friends.

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Almost 4 out of 10 Millennials (37%) are “nones” with no religious faith at all.

What percentage of Millennials have no religious faith?

Totaling 75 million adults, Millennials will soon surpass Baby Boomers as America’s largest living adult generation. They are going to reshape American culture and religious landscape. Here’s the challenge: Millennials are less interested in faith than all previous generations.

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Attitudes

Spiritual attitudes (including views on abortion, pre-marital sex, same-sex marriage, the existence of hell, and social justice) measure the beliefs and practices related to social behaviors from cultural and spiritual perspectives.


Only 37% of the U.S. Population has confidence in the “Church” and its leaders.

What percentage of Americans have confidence in the Church?

For over 200 years, the Church was the top-rated institution in America for honesty, integrity, and ethical conduct. The bastion of confidence! That confidence has been reversed in one generation. America’s confidence in the Church is now almost as low as…

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71% of Americans see nothing morally wrong with having sex before marriage.

What percentage of Americans believe in sex before marriage?

We don’t set the rules, God does . . . and He never changes! Scripture sets the unchanging standard that sexual intimacy is to be experienced in marriage. Contrast that with politicians telling us that cultural codes need to change with the times. Read what Scripture has to say.

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Behaviors

Spiritual behavior (including frequency of church attendance, prayer life, Bible study, faith-sharing, and involvement in church activities) reflects the degree to which a person lives their faith.


Are Americans Living In Fear

Americans Are Living in Fear!

All IgniteAmerica Certified Statistics are supported by three or more major research studies. This makes them ironclad, but difficult to produce. However, the proof that most Americans are living in fear is so overwhelming that, for the first time ever, this report combines three Certified Statistics in one for absolute confirmation.

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Are Regular Church Attenders Still Attending?

Are regular church attenders still attending?

Regular church attendance has dropped from 70% of our population in 1960 to just 20%. And now, 28% of those who were regular church attenders (Pre-COVID), have not attended in person or watched an online worship service even one time since the outbreak.

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70% of all Americans are angry every day . . . and 31% report they’re “really angry” every day. Half of our population is angrier than they’ve ever been!

How angry are Americans?

Our Pledge of Allegiance declares us to be ‘One Nation, Under God,’ but our actions declare that we’re not. In fact, it’s impossible to be a God-honoring/God-united nation, with most Americans being in a perpetual state of anger – half say they are angrier than ever.

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Two-thirds (62%) of American adults favor same-sex marriage.

What percentage of American adults favor same-sex marriage?

While same-sex marriages are a lightning rod for discourse between those who follow and those who refuse to follow the word of God, it’s merely one of many sexual sins that God abhors, and the world accepts. Read what the scriptures say about God’s standards related to sex.

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At least 2.3 million people leave the church every year.

How many people leave the Church every year?

Church attendance in America has been on the decline since the 1980s, for a wide variety of reasons, ranging from hurt and disappointments to time pressures, loss of interest, alternative distractions, and lack of conviction regarding church attendance. The impact is far-reaching.

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Beliefs

Religious beliefs are indicators of what people believe about God, Jesus, the Bible, angels, demons, miracles, Salvation, Heaven, Hell, life after death, and our relationship with God. These indicators provide insight into our Biblical belief system.

Our understanding of scripture, or lack thereof, forms our opinions on what is right and wrong and what is true and false. Without question, Biblical illiteracy is taking its toll on America. Only 51% of our pastors and 6% of Americans continue to hold a Biblical worldview.


What do young adults believe about the existence of God?

What do young adults believe about the existence of God?

Confirmed by multiple studies, the trends in what young adults believe about the existence of God compared to what their parents believe are staggering. The trends give insight into the erosion of our cultural values and should inspire us to pray for revival and share our faith.

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Only 65% of Americans

What percentage of Americans believe Heaven exists?

While failure to believe in the Devil is a delusion, failing to believe in Heaven is a game-changer. Think about it! Removing the incentive of Heaven in a person’s future removes the most basic incentive for…

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Only 55% of Americans believe in the Devil.

What percentage of Americans believe in the Devil?

This defies logic. Denying the existence of the Devil is the same as denying the word of God and defining Jesus Christ as a liar. There’s no middle ground on this one. The existence of the Devil and his determination to take all of us to Hell is explained in detail throughout the Bible.

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Only 45% of all Millennials are confident that God exists.

What percentage of Millennials believe God exists?

In the absence of spiritual revival, societal morality and God-consciousness declines exponentially and unabated, as its focus narrows to this world rather than the world to come. Moral absolutes give way to…

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30% of U.S. Adults believe in a cosmic force rather than the Almighty God described in the Bible.

What percentage of U.S. Adults believe in a cosmic force rather than God?

Movies like Star Wars, that have been viewed by 90% of America and 45% of the world’s population, have enticed the scripturally illiterate into believing in an amoral, impersonal force that ultimately consumes all of us . . . as opposed to…

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Experiences

Spiritual experiences are the response of the whole person (emotion, will, mind and body) to the power of God at work in one’s life . . . moving beyond rational logic, calculation, and strategy.


More than 20% (1 in 5) of all Americans suffer from diagnosable anxiety disorders.

What percentage of Americans suffer from anxiety?

This makes America the most blessed and stressed country in the world. No other country has our level of freedom and prosperity AND our level of stress at the same time! More than 65 million people in the U.S., including 30% of our children between the ages of 3-17, suffer from…

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There has been a shocking 20% decline in weekly church attenders in the last 4 years, up from a 6% decline in the previous 4 years, and only a 2% decline in the previous 20 years.

How much has weekly church attendance declined?

This is the most shocking, game-changing statistic we’ve ever reported! To put it in perspective, 30% of our population never goes to church. This is up from 25% just five years ago! And almost 30% of our population are “Chreasters”…

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Only 37 percent of Americans say they have had a “born again” experience.

What percentage of Americans have had a born-again experience?

Of the 37% of U.S. adults that claim they have had a born-again experience, only half hold core Evangelical beliefs or attend church regularly. There’s a wide gap between what people say they believe and how they live their lives. This is the “Lukewarm Church” that God says…

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45% of people who attend church regularly are NOT saved!

What percentage of people who attend church regularly are saved?

In the past, church attenders went to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, with regular calls for repentance and altar calls. Now it’s a brief ‘once a week’ obligation before lunch and a ballgame on Sundays, with…

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Doug Petersen

Dr. Doug Petersen is the Margaret S. Smith Distinguished Professor of World Mission and Intercultural Studies and a director of the Judkins Institute for Leadership at Vanguard University. With more than 30 years of leadership responsibilities in non-profit and higher education organizations in Latin America and the United States. Professor Petersen is an experienced research scholar writing extensively on the beliefs and social practices of grassroots religious groups. His book, Not by Might, Nor by Power, focusing on religion and popular social movements, was selected among the Outstanding Books of the Decade 1990-2000 by the International Bulletin of Mission Research. In addition to his books, Petersen has published numerous scholarly journal articles and authored book chapters and popular pieces on religion, ethics, and politics. Professor Petersen holds a PhD in Social Theology from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, Oxford, England.

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