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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

May 25, 2010 edition of

The FOSTER Letter—Religious Market Update 

Statusphere Like it or not, the need for recognition and status is at the heart of every consumer trend. Status is the ultimate (hidden) motive, a subconscious but ever-present force. In a traditional consumer society, where consumption is one of the leading indicators of success, those who consume the most (and especially those who consume the rarest and most expensive) will typically also attain the highest status. However, mature consumer societies are changing. An increasing number of consumers are no longer (solely) obsessed with owning or experiencing the most and/or the most expensive. Today, status can be about acquired skills, eco-credentials, generosity, connectivity... All of this makes for a far more diversified ‘STATUSPHERE’ than most brands and organizations have traditionally catered to. (Trendwatching.com 5/10)

Morality Hardwired at Birth Yale Univ. researchers have gathered evidence that suggests babies demonstrate a “rudimentary” moral sense very soon after birth, indicating morality may be hardwired into human beings from the very beginning. “A growing body of evidence suggests that humans do have a rudimentary moral sense from the very start of life. With the help of well-designed experiments, you can see glimmers of moral thought, moral judgment, and moral feeling, even in the first year of life,” said Professor Paul Bloom, a Yale psychologist. (LifeSite News 5/10/10) 

Addicted to Texting 4 out of 5 teens admit to sleeping with or keeping their cell phones near their beds. Nearly 1 out of 3 teens aged 12–17 send over 100 texts a day, reports Pew Research Center. The average adult sends just 10 per day, but older teen girls14-17 send about 3,000 per month. One 16-year-old girl, who sends about 4,000 texts per month, now has carpal tunnel syndrome and needs surgery. (CBSNews.com) 

Help Wanted American congregations cannot find enough people to serve on their committees. 17% of churches with 3 or fewer committees struggle to find volunteers compared with 10% with 4–9 committees and 7% with 10 or more.  (Christianity Today 5/10) 

The Last 10% of achieving quality or excellence is always the most demanding. If all you’re doing is the standard amount, all you’re going to get is the standard result. The hard part is the last 10%, because everyone is busy doing the easy part already. The secret is to invest the extra that others believe isn’t worth the effort. I can help. Contact me at 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. (Seth Godin’s Blog 5/19/10) 

Staying Faith-Connected Barna Research finds strong interest in staying connected with a church is most common among non-mainline teens (49%). Only 25% of mainline students and 20% of Catholic teens say they definitely expect their life to include active involvement with a faith community or church by age 25. Current church attendance appears to be a better predictor of future religious activity than their religious affiliation. 60% of weekly attenders of religious services say they definitely will be involved in a church in the future vs. just 22% of less frequent attenders and 14% of non-attenders. (Barna Update 5/10/10) 

Theology Online Among the 234 American and Canadian Assoc. of Theological Schools’ members, 102 now offer some kind of distance or online education. 53% of chief academic officers believe learning outcomes in online education are the same as in face-to-face instruction. (Christianity Today 4/10) 

Consumers’ Cultural Distinctives Individualism: Consumers expect to control access to content (Internet) and play a bigger role in the development and sharing of information (MySpace), but their desire to be unique also goes hand-in-hand with their need to be part of a community. 30 is the new 20: 30-somethings spent their 20s finding out what they wanted to spend their life doing. They’ve redefined the traditional process into adulthood. They’ve delayed marriage and childbearing, but this doesn’t mean they won’t get married or have kids. Retirement defined: Most Boomers consider themselves 7 years younger than their true age. This generation set out to change the world, so its members do not expect to give up the driver’s seat just because they’re aging. Are you adapting to these new market realities? I can guide you through the process. Contact 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. (Target Marketing 11/06) 

Outreach Immigrants to the U.S. with the greatest receptivity to the gospel are from, in order, Ecuador, Guatemala, Liberia, Honduras, El Salvador, Myanmar, Brazil, Costa Rica, Kenya, and Mexico, finds a LifeWay Research study of people from 151 different countries. (Advance 4/27/10) 

Millennials Value Family A new LifeWay study that forms the basis for the upcoming book, The Millennials: Connecting to America’s Largest Generation by Dr. Thom Rainer and Jess Rainer, finds 61% of Millennials place family at the top of their priority lists, followed by friends (25%), education (17%), careers/jobs (16%), spouses/partners (13%), and spirituality/religion (13%). Other responses were finances (12%), happiness (12%), raising kids (11%), health (10%), activities (9%), well-being (9%), the future (5%), nature/pets (5%), and use of time (4%). Total percentages exceed 100 because multiple responses were permitted. (LifeWay 5/11/10)

Fearful The National Institute of Mental Health reports, “Approximately 40 million American adults ages 18 and older, or about 18.1% of people in this age group in a given year, have an anxiety disorder.” (National Institute of Mental Health) 

Elderly Caring for Elderly Professional caregivers (mostly women) are one of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. work force—and also one of the grayest. A recent PHI National study found, in ’08, 28% of home care aides were over age 55 vs. 18% of women in the overall work force. It is projected that from ’08 to ’18, the number of direct-care workers, which includes those in nursing homes, will grow to 4.3 million from 3.2 million. The percentage of older caregivers is projected to grow to 30% from 22%. (NY Times 4/24/10) 

Wireless Today, 15% of U.S. households have standard plug-in phones but almost never use them, finds a National Center for Health Statistics study. 24% have only wireless phones. (Online Media Daily 5/13/10)  

Teen Aspirations 93% of U.S. teens say they will either definitely or probably obtain a college degree by their mid-20s, according to a recent Barna Group study. 81% feel they are likely to have a “great-paying job” by age 25.  80% also believe they will be serving in a “job where they can make a difference” by that age. 72% feel they will have a close, personal relationship with God in the next decade. 71% say they will definitely or probably have traveled to other countries by their mid-20s. 58% expect to be married and 63% involved in church by then, as well. Just 40% feel they may have children by age 25, and only 9% declare they will definitely become a parent in their early adult years. (Barna Update 5/10/10)

The Most Important Questions in business are often never asked: What is our motive? What is our purpose? Are these worthwhile? Motive and purpose guide behavior, color decisions, and add or subtract joy from work. Keep asking these questions, and use the answers to measure success. I can help you ask and answer these vital questions in your organization. Contact 419-238-4082, Gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. (Joy At Work, Dennis Bakke, 2005) 

Business Travel Up 27% of the world’s major corporations are increasing their travel spending in ’10 (vs. 2% in ’09) as they see a chance to generate new sales. 34% plan to restrict travel in the next 12 months for staff meetings and other internal corporate purposes vs. 81% in ’09. 35% plan to restrict travel to industry conferences and trade shows vs. 79% a year ago. (USA Today 5/11/10) 

Read Bible More  Most evangelicals read their Bible more in this past year (’09) than they did the previous year. (2010 Spiritual State of the Nation Survey, Coral Ridge Ministries)  

New Churches Research shows new churches have a higher ratio of conversions and baptisms compared to more established churches, according to their new book Viral Churches: Helping Church Planters Become Movement Makers. Studies have shown that, in general, churches typically plateau in attendance by their 15th year, and by about 35 years they begin having trouble replacing the members they lose. Among evangelical churches, those under 3 years old will win 10 people to Christ per year per 100 members. Those 3 to 15 years old will win 5 people per year per 100 members. After age 15, the number drops to 3 per year. Most new churches survive; after 4 years, 68% of new churches still exist, and 70% attain self-sufficiency by the 5th year. (Viral Churches: Helping Church Planters Become Movement Makers, LifeWay, 5/10) 

Churches No Longer in Decline The total number of churches is not in decline anymore. Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird of LifeWay Research say, after decades of net decline, more U.S. churches are being started each year than are being closed, largely due to the recent increase in enthusiasm for church planting. Every year, approximately 4,000 churches are birthed in the U.S. (500 more than are closed).  (Christian Post 5/13/10) 

Toddler TV Toddlers who watch a lot of TV were more likely to experience a range of problems by the 4th grade, including lower grades, poorer health, and more problems with school bullies, a new Univ. of Montreal study reports. The findings suggest the problems were strongly linked with TV exposure, not parental care, and that excessive TV is not good for a developing brain. It is vital for parents to set limits and develop smart media habits that work for them. (Around the Net in Media 5/7/10) 

For information on how to become a subscriber to the entire 4-page Foster Letter---Religious Market Update, E-mail us at: subscribe@garydfoster.com