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The Foster Letter —

Religious Market Update

The FOSTER Letter is a bi-weekly e-mail religious market intelligence report targeted to Christian market channel and ministry leaders.  Each issue reports on news, trends, events and research that will directly or indirectly impact your audiences and businesses in a convenient summary format  Better informed leaders make better choices!

Researched, Edited & Published by Gary D. Foster

Excerpts from the

December 10, 2007 edition of

The FOSTER Letter—Religious Market Update

Dads Being Dads In ’97, dads living at home spent 65% as much time in the company of their children during the week as their mothers did, and 87% as much time on the weekends claims a Univ. of Michigan study. (Brandweek 11/12/07) 

Book is Dead Michael Hyatt, Thomas Nelson CEO, says though it will not happen immediately or all at once, the death of the traditional printed page is “inevitable.” In his blog at www.michaelhyatt.com, Hyatt cites inefficiencies in book manufacturing, distribution and buying as contributing factors and credits Amazon’s new Kindle electronic reader as a major step along the digital pathway. He said, “Most of us have a plan, but we need to move faster. I don’t think we have much time. The clock is ticking.” (Christian e-Tailing 11/26/07)

Drop Outs 70% of young adults who attend a Protestant church for at least a year in high school will stop attending regularly for at least a year between the ages of 18 and 22. (Facts & Trends 11-12/07)  

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5 Kinds of Christians Knowledge Networks research has identified these 5 distinctive segments among the U.S. Christian population. Here is how they compare: Active Christians—19%. Believe salvation comes through Christ. Committed churchgoers. Bible readers. Accept leadership positions. Invest in personal faith development through the church. Feel obligated to share faith; 79% do so. Professing Christians—20%. Believe salvation comes through Christ. Focus on personal relationship with God and Jesus. Similar beliefs to Active Christians, different actions. Less involved in attending and serving in church. Less committed to Bible reading or sharing faith. Liturgical Christians—16%. Mostly Catholic and Lutheran. Regular churchgoers. High level of spiritual activity, mostly by serving in church and/or community. Recognize authority of the church. Private Christians—24%. Largest and youngest segment. Believe in God and doing good. Own a Bible, but don’t read it. Spiritual interest, but not within church context. Only 1 in 3 attend church at all. Not church leaders. Cultural Christians—21%. Little outward religious behavior or attitudes. God- aware, but little personal involvement with God. Jesus not viewed as essential to salvation. Affirm many ways to God. Favor universality theology. (leadershipjournal.net Fall ’07) 

Major Depression strikes 17% of Americans. Government figures show about 30,000 a year commit suicide. (USA Today 11/28/07) 

The World’s Largest Bible Printing Facility is set to begin production before the end of the year … in Nanjing, China. Amity Printing’s new 85,000-square-meter facility is the result of a partnership between a Chinese Christian charity and the United Bible Societies. Officially opening in May, it will turn out an amazing 1 million copies a month in more than 90 languages. (South China Morning Post, 11/25/ 07) 

Spendable Income A report by The Conference Board finds 73 million US households now have discretionary (spendable) income, up from about 57 million in ’02. Total discretionary income in the US topped $1.7 trillion in ’06, with the household average at $24,335. Per capita income hit $9,148. In ’06, 64% of the population had discretionary income vs. 52% in ’02. Nearly 78% of all discretionary income is held by households earning more than $100,000. (Center for Media Research Briefing 11/23/07) 

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E-Commerce Purchases are expected to rise 17% to 20% this holiday season over ’06. But the Web’s influence over what people buy may be growing even faster. ShopLocal says purchases researched online but made offline, in physical stores, are booming. The firm has developed the ShopLocal Index based on Internet-influenced purchases through a combination of surveys and measuring traffic to Web pages with coupons and other discounts that can only be used offline. The index was up 22% for September and October, but spiked to 50% in November. In a spring ’07 report, Forrester Research estimated nearly $400 billion of store sales, or 16% of total retail sales, would be directly influenced by Web research in ’07 and estimates it will be $1 trillion by 2011, or half of all retail purchases.(NY Times 11/23/07) 

Campus Christians 8 of 10 college students attend religious services, 80% discuss religion or spirituality with friends and 69% pray, according to an ’04 UCLA, survey of 112,232 freshmen at 236 universities. “The American university system is not so aggressively asking kids to question their religion as it might have been in past years, in the ’60s,” said Univ. of Texas professor Mark Regnerus. Mostly due to the uncertainty of modern life, Campus Crusade has grown from 18,000 students on 225 campuses in ’92 to 50,000 on 1,100 campuses today. It is estimated that between 3% and 9% of Ivy League undergraduates now participate in various Christian activities each week. (Reuters UK, 11/26/07)  

Advertising online will continue to mature and evolve. 24/7 RealMedia says online ad spending is up as much as 33% over ’06. Internet giants like Google are introducing new programs that bring global marketing techniques to the local level. Creatives can localize their campaigns and zero in on targeted segments to drive online brick-and-mortar traffic. (Direct 10/07) 

Caregiver Cost There are more than 25 million family caregivers in the U.S., and American businesses lose $11- $29 billion each year due to employees needing to care for loved ones age 50 and older. (Leadership Network Advance 11/26/07) 

Can It Be? God definitely or probably created humans in their present form within the past 10,000 years. 24% say both evolution and creationism are definitely or probably true. (Outreach 11-12/07 

Religious Book Sales rose 1.6% in September for a total of $83.1 million. The category was up 8.3% for the year to date, according to the Association of American Publishers. (Christian E-tailing 11/29/07) 

Megachurch Economic Impact An analysis by The New York Times of the online public records of over 1,300 megachurches shows their business interests are as varied as basketball schools, aviation subsidiaries, investment partnerships and a limousine service. At least 10 own and operate shopping centers, and some are adding residential developments to their holdings. Some are becoming catalysts for local economic development, challenging a conventional view that churches drain a town financially by generating lower-paid jobs, taking land off tax rolls and increasing traffic. Although community outreach is almost always cited as the primary motive, these economic initiatives may also indicate megachurches are seeking sources of revenue beyond the collection plate to support their increasingly elaborate programs, suggests sociologist Mark Chaves. (NY Times 11/23/07) 

Children & Alcohol 7% of 4^th graders have had an alcoholic drink in the past year. The earlier people start to drink, or even have their first drink, the more likely they are to have problems later in life with alcohol, drugs, risky sexual behavior, delinquency and motor vehicle accidents, claims John Donovan, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. (PWB 11/30/07) 

Teens Listen to Parents When it comes to dating and sex, teens care more about what their parents have to say than their closest friends. According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 65% of teens say it’s “easy” to have conversations with their parents. Nearly one-third called their relationship with their parents healthy and worth emulating. (PWB 11/30/07) 

4 Mega-Trends The Barna Group has identified 4 mega trends significantly affecting the development of American culture. They are:  (1) Americans’ Unconditional Self-Love—4 out of 5 adults describe themselves as loyal, reliable, independent thinkers, supportive of traditional family values, clear about the meaning and purpose of their life, making a positive difference in the world, and well-informed about current events. More than 2 out of 3 claim they are open to new ideas and easily adapt to change. (2) Nouveau Christianity— The image of the Christian faith has taken a beating as a result of harsh media criticism, “unchristian” behavior by church people, bad personal experiences with churches, ineffective Christian leadership amid social crises, and the like. As a result spiritual practices among those who claim to be Christians are shifting dramatically. (3) The 5 Ps of Parenting— Parents have by design or default decided to focus on these 5 Ps in raising their children: Preparation, Performing well, Pressure management, Protection and Public perception. But they tend to neglect emphasis upon activities that would strengthen their own relational bond with the children. It seems to be more about form than function. (4) Designer Faith with Rootless Values—Faith is an acceptable attribute and pursuit among most young people. However, their notions of faith do not align with conventional religious perspectives or behavior. Although often consistent with Christian beliefs, a few are not based on biblical foundations. Researcher George Barna concludes, “Our society is running the risk of becoming so independent and self-absorbed that we will abandon our responsibility to society and to making the world a better place.” (Barna Update 12/3/07) 

Higher Travel Costs According to the American Express Global Business Travel Forecast, the average cost of a domestic business trip (airfare, lodging and car rental) will rise 6% in ’08 to $1,110. The average cost of an international business trip will rise nearly 7% to $3,171. (USA Today 12/5/07)

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