A new Nazarene is a person taken into church membership either by a profession of faith or by transferring their membership from another denomination. The Church of the Nazarene in the USA and Canada received 31,239 new Nazarenes in 2008; however, not every church takes in a new Nazarene each year. Even more noteworthy is that the percentage of churches that do receive at least one new Nazarene within the year has been declining.

Chart 1 below shows three trend lines. The red trend line with the yellow triangle is the percentage of churches that received at least one new Nazarene within the year. The highest percentage was back in 1974 when 79% of Nazarene churches took in at least one new Nazarene. The lowest percentage was in 2008, when 68% of Nazarene churches received at least one new Nazarene member. Although the line has almost as many points of increase as it does points of decrease, the overall trend is clearly lower.

The blue trend line shows the percentage of churches receiving at least one person by profession of faith. The line closely mirrors the red new Nazarenes line because professions of faith are a large component of new Nazarenes. The other component— membership transfers from other denominations—is very small. However, there is a growing space between the new Nazarenes line and the professions of faith line, indicating that we are recognizing more new members from other denominations. Christian groups are increasingly likely to grant transfers between denominations, so this figure may continue to grow.

Just because a church does not receive a new Nazarene, that does not mean there is nothing happening. The purple trend line shows the percentage of churches that reported an increase in average worship attendance even though they did not receive a single new Nazarene. The line is consistently between 7% to 9% of Nazarene churches. When looked at in combination with new Nazarenes, about 4 out of every 5 Nazarene churches in the USA and Canada adds new people to their congregation each year.

How Nazarenes Perceive Other Organizations
A January 2008 survey1 of USA and Canada Nazarene pastors and lay members reveals how Nazarenes perceive several other organizations. Respondents were asked if they had a very favorable, favorable, unfavorable, or very unfavorable opinion about these organizations. Respondents were also given the option of choosing that they didn’t know or were unfamiliar with the organization. Chart 2 below graphically presents the survey results.

Focus on the Family received the highest “very favorable” response, with over half of the lay members choosing this reply. When combined with “favorable” responses, more than a 90% of both pastors and lay members have a favorable opinion in regard to Focus on the Family. In contrast to this, Planned Parenthood received a “very unfavorable” or “unfavorable” opinion from 79% of pastors and 50% of lay members. However, 33% of lay members have either a “very favorable” or “favorable” view of Planned Parenthood.

Many people indicated that they “didn’t know or were unfamiliar” with the organization in question. The National Council of Churches is the least familiar organization for both pastors and lay members, with just over half (51%) of the lay members and 24% of pastors choosing this option. In addition to revealing our unfamiliarity with many organizations, the data also helps to remind us that no matter what our opinion is there is probably someone else with a different opinion nearby.