Milton Adams, coordinator of Simple Churches for the Florida Adventist Conference, has shared with me some very significant research on The State of the American Church. It reveals some startling statistics on the inevitable decline of churches older than 40 years (unless in their 70s – or those local churches established for more than 200 years!), rural churches and those with an attendance between 50 and 500. The evidence is again clear that new church plants – and those with an attendance of less than 50 or over 500 – will more likely reach new people with the gospel. Not all of the statistics relate to the European or Australian situation, but many do. Australian studies reveal an even more dramatic decline in the percentage of the population identifying themselves as Christians – and only 48% of Australian Gen Y’s believe in God. If you would like a copy of this research, let me know and I will send it to you. (It is in the form of a PowerPoint Presentation – very well done and easy to follow. I will email it to those interested.)