The US Census
Bureau estimates the current population of Manatee County Florida to be 315,000 souls. Only 35% of that number claim
any kind of religious affiliation. We thus have two out of three people in our county who do not even claim to be religious.
This is well below the national average of 50+%.
In Manatee County
we currently have 12 congregations of the church of Christ, and four of those are "anti" in nature. The twelve congregations
average less than 100 in attendance for a total of 1200 adherents.
I know that some
of you who receive this email are experienced in church planting and church growth; what do we need to do? Please share
some ideas that might make a difference in our community. What are you doing that is working?
Midway is a small
group who are aging, and are maintaining our own in numbers, but are not growing numerically. When we lose someone,
the Lord will replace them with someone else, but our overall growth has maintained about the same over the last five years.
We need to better impact our community! Help!
We need workers
in this part of the world. If you are considering moving or retiring to Florida, please contact us!
Also, visit this
month’s Christian Progress, and have a faithful and blessed summer.
