A column of current statistics selected especially for Christian communicators
Number of watts of power used by the human brain when engaged in deep thought: 14
Number of watts required by an IBM PC: 93
Percentage of youth, age 11 to 16, who say they feel very close to both parents: 75
Amount spent by one person on tickets for a recent weekly drawing of the Florida state lottery: $46,000
Percentage of U.S. counties in which no doctor’s offices, clinics, or hospitals perform abortions: 82
Percentage of Americans who believe in life on other planets: 46
Percentage of married men who say their wives are their best friends: 90
Average number of pieces of unsolicited mail received by a home in one year: 1,000
Percentage of Americans who say they feel close to God: 83
Number of soldiers who died in the Vietnam War: 58,000
Number of Vietnam vets who have committed suicide since the war: 100,000
Life expectancy of an American born in 1900: 47.3 years
Life expectancy of an American born in 1987: 75.0 years
Estimated number of plant and animal species that have become extinct since 1980: 100,000
Percentage of adults who pray with friends very often or somewhat often: 34
America’s Most-Admired Man
The man most admired by the American public over the last four decades is evangelist Billy Graham. For forty years, The Gallup Organization has polled American adults to determine the ten men they admire most, and Graham has been named to the list an astounding 32 times. Behind Graham on the forty-year list are Dwight Eisenhower and Winston Churchill.
– Reported in Emerging Trends, 2/90
Death Wishes
“A funeral can be the third most expensive purchase a person makes, after a home and a car,” according to Mark Lino, a consumer economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. What are Americans choosing when they arrange for their funerals?
An overwhelming percentage of Americans-86 percent-choose a traditional casket burial. The remaining 14 percent choose cremation, which is favored by almost twice as many men as women.
Burial by casket is far more expensive, however: an average of $3,786, compared to $1,505 for the average cremation. And a cemetery plot and marker add at least another $1,000 to the costs of burial.
-Reported in American Demographics, 7/90
Sizes of U.S. Churches
The 1990 Statistical Abstract of the United States (110th edition) reports that there are 294,271 religious congregations in the continental U.S. Here are the approximate percentages of congregations falling in the following size ranges:
Fewer than 100 members: 21 percent
100-199 members: 19 percent
200-499 members: 32 percent
500-999 members: 16 percent
1,000 or more members: 12 percent.
According to these statistics, there are three to four times as many “small churches” (congregations with fewer than 200 members) as there are “mega-churches” (congregations with 1,000 or more members). On the other hand, more people are members of “mega-churches” than of “small churches.”
-Reported in Church Law & Tax Report, 9-10/90
Youth Ministers’ Worries
What keeps youth ministers awake at night (other than lock-ins)? According to a survey by Group Publishing, youth ministers said these were their biggest concerns:
1. Reaching kids who are too busy
2. Helping young people grow spiritually
3. Getting parental support
4. Recruiting and motivating volunteers
5. Overcoming kids’ apathy
6. Keeping teenagers interested
7. Dealing with putdowns and negative behavior
8. Working with a wide variety of kids
9. Helping young people with peer pressure
10. Not having enough money in our budget
-Reported in Group, 2/90
Sources – Brain power: The Harper’s Index Book by Lewis H. Lapham, Michael Pollan, and Eric Etheridge (Henry Holt and Company, 1987). Teens & parents: USA Today, 8/27/90. Lottery: WBBM-TV news, 9/14/90. Abortion: Harper’s, 9/89. Planetary life: 100% American by Daniel Weiss (Poseidon Press, 1988). Best-friend wives: Men’s Life, fall 1990, reported in USA Today. Junk mail: The Frog in the Kettle by George Barna (Regal, 1990). Close to God: 100% American by Daniel Weiss (Poseidon Press, 1988). Vietnam vets: Nam Vet by Chuck Dean (Multnomah, 1990). Life expectancy: “Summing Up the Reagan Era” by Karl Zinsmeister, The Wilson Quarterly, winter 1990. Extinction: Harper’s, 1/90. Prayer: Princeton Religion Research Center’s Emerging Trends, 4/90.
Leadership Winter 1991 p. 97
Copyright © 1991 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
