It's an old, old, old joke...

Q: Why did the priest turn down the relocation to a distant parish?

A: Because he refused to leave his favorite altar boys behind.

The Guts and the Glue

"Even with a broader definition of church attendance, classifying a regular attendee as someone who shows up at least three out of every eight Sundays, only 23–25% of Americans would fit this category. Olson notes that an additional million church attendees would increase the percentage from 17.7% to only 18%. "You"d have to find 80 million more people that churches forgot to count to get to 40%."

Clearly, a disconnect between what Americans say and what they actually do has created a sense of a resilient church culture when, in fact, it may not exist."

source

OMG!

What is the answer? (There is an answer to every problem, but is is rarely simple - and ofter plural [e.g. what are the answers?].)

Churches continue to feel the effects of "the Great [Bush] Recession" of 2007 as contributions dropped $1.2 billion [for the year], according to the National Council of Churches' 2012 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches.

Membership trends in denominations reporting remain the same [e.g. declining attendance across-the-board], with [a few] growing churches still growing and [the majority of] declining churches still declining..."

source

A lot more empty churches are for sale these days - with no takers.

A Virginia church for sale.

more

Price reduced $100,000

Re-purposed churches too!

White Elephants!