If it wasn't so sad, it would be funny

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Jeremy Geerdes

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Mar 25, 2009, 10:33:25 AM3/25/09
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The Association Religion Data Archive (ARDA) recently redid their site, and it includes some interesting information about faith (or lack thereof) in Des Moines and other communities.  Check it out:


I would draw your particular attention to the stats for The Wesleyan Church, which is very near the bottom of the list. They show that we have 3 congregations (nevermind that Ankeny closed at the end of 2005 or 2006, so we only have 2).  And they show that, between the 3 of us, we have 384 "adherents." Maybe Grace is holding out revealing some secret stash of believers and a couple of extra services, but I'm thinking this might be a bit high. :P 

Anyway, I added up the total number of people that they show as "claimed" versus "unclaimed" and discovered that ARDA estimates that 53% of the Des Moines metro is unclaimed.

Therefore, considering that...

  • ARDA's adherent rate for The Wesleyan Church is probably better than double actual, and
  • ARDA's "claimed" numbers include things like Baha'i, Buddhism, Jews, Muslims, and Sikh, and
  • it would seem likely that at least some other organizations' adherents estimates are inflated similarly to our own (i.e., 100+%)

... it would seem to follow that there are LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of people being missed by the established churches of our community. Maybe even to the tune of 75% of the overall population on any given Sunday!

Just a thought to inspire a sense of urgency and earnesty in our ministry endeavors today and every day.

Rev. Jeremy R. Geerdes, Pastor
Debra Heights Wesleyan Church
4025 Lower Beaver Rd.
Des Moines, IA 50310

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