The State of the Church in South Dakota

The State of the Church in South Dakota 1990-2000
Dave Olson © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

© 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use
This is a Sample Presentation It’s purpose is to give you an idea of what is happening to the Christian church in South Dakota, and what the complete “State of the Church in South Dakota” Powerpoint looks like. The goal is to encourage pastors and church lay leaders to view and discuss together the missional challenges in South Dakota that the Church faces. The complete Powerpoint is $14.95 and is available for immediate download at © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

In 1996, polls taken immediately after the Presidential election revealed that 58% of people claimed they had voted, when in reality only 49% actually did. This is called the Halo Effect. People tend to over-inflate their participation in activities that create acceptability within their social group. For many decades, pollsters such as Gallup and Barna have reported that around 45% of Americans attend church every Sunday. But there is a religious Halo Effect. Actual attendance counts have shown that the percentage of people attending church on any given weekend is much lower than was previously thought. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

The Intent of this presentation is to answer and then expand on two key questions: “How Many People Really Attend Church in South Dakota Every Week?” “Is the Christian Church Going Forwards or Backwards in Influence in South Dakota?” As the data is analyzed county by county assessing a number of factors, a comprehensive picture of the State of the Church in South Dakota will begin to take shape. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

This study uses weekend church attendance as a more reliable and more immediate snapshot of Christian influence than membership. The following map shows the percentage of the population attending a Christian church on any given weekend in all 50 states in South Dakota has an attendance percentage (28.0%) that is the third highest in the nation. The national average is 18.7%. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

Percentage of Population Attending a Christian Church
3.1% UT 9.7% NV 11.2% ME 11.4% ID 11.8% NH 13.2% VT 13.4% HI 14.0% WY WA 14.3% AZ 14.4% MA 14.5% OR 14.8% CA 15.1% AK FL 15.2% CO 15.5% NY 16.0% NJ DE 17.4% WV 17.5% MT 17.7% MD 17.8% NM 18.0% VA 17.2% CT 19.1% TX 20.1% RI 20.3% IL OH 20.5% PA 20.6% MI 21.5% MO 21.7% IN 22.0% OK 22.1% KY 22.7% KS NC 23.2% MN 23.3% SC GA 23.5% TN 23.8% NE 24.6% WI 24.7% IA 25.0% AR 26.7% MS 26.9% AL 28.0% SD 28.6% DC 29.4% ND 38.4% LA 0.0% to 14.4% 14.4% to 17.5% 17.5% to 20.6% 20.6% to 23.5% 23.5% to 39.4% Percentage of Population Attending a Christian Church on any Given Weekend in 2000 © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

The Next Map shows the percentage of the population attending a Christian church on any given weekend in 2000 for each county in South Dakota. The church attendance rate in Western South Dakota (21.5%) is much lower than Eastern South Dakota (30.8%). © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

South Dakota Counties Percentage of Population at Worship in Christian Churches on any Given Sunday in 2000 Blue = Lowest Rose = Middle Beige = Highest 11.8% Butte 12.1% Jackson 13.4% Ziebach 14.3% Shannon 15.8% Meade Bennett 16.0% Custer 16.2% Clay Stanley 17.0% Buffalo 19.6% Mellette 19.7% Dewey 20.1% Todd Lincoln 20.3% Moody Lawrence 21.0% Pennington 22.0% Lyman 22.8% Union 23.4% Sully 24.4% Brookings 24.9% Harding 25.4% Jones Fall River 25.5% Yankton 25.8% Hughes 26.0% Roberts 26.1% Minnehaha 26.5% Hand 26.6% Marshall 26.8% Lake 27.1% Sanborn 27.2% McPherson 28.1% Gregory 28.3% Aurora 28.4% Tripp 28.5% Hamlin 28.6% Spink 29.6% Walworth 29.8% Hyde Beadle 30.7% Deuel 31.1% Davison 31.4% Brule 32.3% Haakon 32.8% Day 33.4% Jerauld 34.3% Grant 34.7% Codington 35.0% Bon Homme 35.2% Perkins 35.3% Corson Brown 35.6% Charles Mix 36.0% Hanson 37.8% Kingsbury 39.4% Edmunds 40.3% Clark 40.4% Faulk 40.8% Miner 41.3% Potter 41.8% Turner 42.2% Campbell 46.9% Hutchinson 55.7% Douglas 42.5% McCook 0.0% to 25.4% 25.4% to 32.3% 32.3% to 55.7% © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

The Next 2 Maps show the population numbers for each county in South Dakota. The first map shows the population of each county. Nine counties have a population of over 20,000 people. The second map shows the growth or decline in population for each county from All blue counties declined in population. Only one county (Minnehaha) increased by more than 10,000 people. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

South Dakota Counties 2000 Population 0 to 5,000 5,000 to 20,000
1,782 Campbell 4,576 McPherson 5,832 Marshall 4,181 Corson 1,353 Harding 35,460 Brown 10,016 Roberts 3,363 Perkins 5,974 Walworth 4,367 Edmunds 6,267 Day 7,847 Grant 5,972 Dewey 2,693 Potter 2,640 Faulk 2,519 Ziebach 25,897 Codington 7,454 Spink 9,094 Butte 4,143 Clark 4,498 Deuel 1,556 Sully 5,540 Hamlin 24,253 Meade 1,671 Hyde 3,741 Hand 2,772 Stanley 17,023 Beadle 21,802 Lawrence 2,196 Haakon 5,815 Kingsbury 28,220 Brookings 16,481 Hughes 2,032 Buffalo 2,295 Jerauld 88,565 Pennington 2,675 Sanborn 2,884 Miner 11,276 Lake 6,595 Moody 1,193 Jones 3,895 Lyman 2,930 Jackson 5,364 Brule 3,058 Aurora 7,275 Custer 18,741 Davison 3,139 Hanson 2,904 McCook 148,281 Minnehaha 2,083 Mellette 12,466 Shannon 6,430 Tripp 3,458 Douglas 8,075 Hutchinson 8,849 Turner 7,453 Fall River 24,131 Lincoln 3,574 Bennett 9,050 Todd 4,792 Gregory 9,350 Charles Mix 7,260 Bon Homme 21,652 Yankton 13,537 Clay South Dakota Counties 2000 Population 12,584 Union 0 to 5,000 5,000 to 20,000 20,000 to 150,000

Complete Presentation has Map of 2000 Population Growth for Each County

The Next 2 Slides show the ethnicity of South Dakota in 1990 and The third slide shows the growth or decline in the percentage of the population for each ethnic group. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

Complete Presentation has Graph of 2000 Ethnicity

The Next Graph shows the attendance numbers for the churches in South Dakota in 1990 and Most noteworthy is the slight growth of Evangelical churches and the slight decline of Catholic and Mainline churches. However, as overall worship attendance has remained quite stable, the population has grown. A more reliable standard for evaluating increasing or declining influence is the percentage of the population attending church on any given weekend, shown in the second graph. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

Complete Presentation has Graph of 1990 & 2000 Worship Percentage by Category

The Next Graph is a Pie graph visualizing the percentage of the population at churches in each category in The “Absent” category indicates the percentage of the population that is not worshipping at a Christian church on any given weekend. The second graph shows the percentage gain or decline for each category in South Dakota in 1990 and Most noteworthy is the decline of each group. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

The 3 Next Charts show the relative strength of the 9 major denominational groups in South Dakota. The second and third charts show the significant decline of all denominations in South Dakota, with the exception of Pentecostal, Christian and Three Sisters churches. (The 3 Sisters are 3 similar evangelical denominations originally from Sweden, the Baptist General Conference, the Evangelical Free Church and the Evangelical Covenant Church.) © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

Complete Presentation has Pie Chart of 2000 Attendance by Denominational Families

Complete Presentation has Bar Graph of 1990 & 2000 Attendance by Denominational Families

The Next Chart shows the 1990 & 2000 average church attendance by group for both this state and the nation. The second chart shows the 1990 & 2000 population per church for this state and the nation. Among states in 2000, Arkansas has the lowest population per church with 411 people per church, Utah is the highest at 4,586 people per church. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

Complete Presentation has Bar Graph of 1990 & 2000 Population per Church for State and Nation

The Next 3 Maps show the attendance percentages for the Evangelical, Catholic and Mainline churches in each county in South Dakota in Mainline churches are much stronger east of the Missouri River. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

Complete Presentation has State Map of 2000 Evangelical Attendance Percentage for each County

Complete Presentation has State Map of 2000 Mainline Attendance Percentage for each County

South Dakota Counties Percentage of Population at Worship in
Catholic Churches on any Given Sunday in 2000 Blue = Lowest Rose = Middle Beige = Highest 2.6% Lincoln 2.9% Butte 3.1% Mellette 3.3% Custer 3.6% Jones 3.8% McPherson 4.4% Hamlin 4.6% Brookings 4.8% Clay Douglas 4.9% Ziebach Dewey 5.0% Clark 5.1% Deuel 5.2% Bennett 5.4% Jerauld Turner 5.5% Union 5.7% Fall River 6.1% Marshall 6.3% Jackson 6.8% Meade 6.9% Beadle 7.0% Lake Lawrence Kingsbury 7.2% Moody 7.3% Roberts 7.8% Sully 7.9% Shannon 8.0% Minnehaha 8.8% Campbell Hughes 8.9% Hutchinson 9.2% Gregory 9.5% Walworth 9.6% Harding 9.8% Hyde 9.9% Tripp Pennington 10.0% Perkins 10.5% Brown 10.7% Lyman 10.9% Spink Codington 11.3% Charles Mix 11.6% Grant Day 11.8% Hanson Aurora 12.0% Bon Homme 12.1% Yankton 12.2% Davison Buffalo 12.3% Hand 12.4% Sanborn 13.5% Stanley 14.0% Brule Edmunds 14.6% Faulk 14.7% Miner 15.3% Todd 15.8% Corson 16.6% Haakon 12.8% McCook 26.1% Potter 0.0% to 6.9% 6.9% to 10.9% 10.9% to 27.1%

The Next Map shows the growth or decline in the percentage of the population attending a Christian church on any given weekend from 1990 to 2000 for each county. 11 counties grew in attendance percentage, while 55 counties declined. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

Complete Presentation has State Map of Christian Church Attendance Percentage Increase or Decline for each County

The Next 3 Maps show the growth or decline of attendance percentages for the Evangelical, Catholic and Mainline churches in each county in South Dakota between 1990 and For evangelicals, 24 counties grew in attendance percentage, while 41 counties declined. For mainline churches, 11 counties grew in attendance percentage, while 55 counties declined. For Catholics, 26 counties grew in attendance percentage, while 40 counties declined. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

Complete Presentation has State Map of Evangelical Attendance Percentage Increase or Decline for each County

Complete Presentation has State Map of Mainline Attendance Percentage Increase or Decline for each County

South Dakota Counties Increase or Decline in the Percentage of Population at Worship at Catholic Churches on any Given Sunday between 1990 & Blue = Decline Rose = Growth -65% Fall River Dewey -60% Mellette -59% Clay -50% Aurora -45% Bennett -41% Hanson -40% Butte -39% Hyde -38% Union -36% Jones Todd -35% Ziebach Brookings -34% Buffalo -23% Shannon Hamlin -19% Lincoln -16% Davison Lake -15% Brown Potter -27% McCook -10% Moody -9% Clark Day Turner -7% Minnehaha -6% Gregory Yankton -5% Codington Charles Mix Sanborn -4% Sully Walworth Grant -3% Marshall Roberts 0% Brule Deuel 1% Hughes Bon Homme Jackson 3% Spink 4% Kingsbury Hand 6% Lyman Jerauld 7% Custer 8% Faulk 9% Beadle 10% McPherson Campbell 11% Edmunds Douglas 12% Tripp 18% Corson 19% Miner 21% Perkins 23% Lawrence 26% Haakon Harding 28% Meade 30% Pennington 47% Hutchinson 101% Stanley Decline Growth

The Next Chart shows the net gain in the number of churches in South Dakota in the past decade. There was a net loss of 68 churches. However, 150 churches were needed to keep up with population growth in South Dakota from © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

For More Information . . . Please go to for additional information on the American Church. 12 Surprising Facts about the American Church is available at The complete South Dakota Powerpoint presentation is available at © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

The Final Chart shows the net gain in the number of churches in the 9 counties of South Dakota that grew by more than 2,000 people in the past decade. There was a total gain in these 9 counties of 21 churches. However, to keep up with the population growth in those counties, there would have needed to have been a net gain of 86 more churches from © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

The State of the Church in South Dakota . . .
83% of South Dakota counties declined in attendance percentage. The eastern half of the state has a much higher attendance percentage than the western half. While Christian church attendance has remained quite stable, the percentage of the population attending church has been declining slightly in the Evangelical church and declining more rapidly for both Mainline and Catholic churches. A major factor in the overall decline is the small net gain in the number of churches in the growing areas of South Dakota. The number of churches did not keep up with population growth in any of the counties that grew by more than 2000 in population from 1990 – Two hundred and eighteen If the present decade is to rectify that state-wide, 218 additional churches needed to have been started in the previous decade to compensate for the decline in percentage attendance. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

Information on the Information
The spiritual health of churches is multifaceted, and is obviously much more complex than an attendance trend can portray. However, following the example of St. Luke in the Book of Acts, who used the number of people who showed up at various events as a sign documenting the health and growth of the early church, I would suggest that attendance is the single most helpful indicator of health, growth and decline. Information has been compiled only for orthodox Christian groups – Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox. The Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Unitarian-Universalists and the International Churches of Christ have not been included. In addition, information about non-Christian groups has not been compiled. African American denominations publish very little that is statistical – often not even a list of current churches. This study used data from the 1990 Glenmary study on Black Baptist estimates and AME Zion churches, the average African American worship attendance (from the Barna Research Group), and a statistical model based on the population of African Americans in each county in 1990 and These were combined to come up with as accurate an estimate as possible. Independent church data is almost impossible to obtain. (There are actually fewer totally independent churches than is assumed. Most are part of some voluntary association, which typically keeps some records.) Data from the 1990 & 2000 Glenmary study on larger Independent churches (limited to over 300 in attendance) was used along with a statistical model to estimate the attendance at smaller independent churches. In Catholic churches, the definition of what constitutes membership varies with diocese and church, making numbers sometimes inconsistent from state to state and county to county. In addition to actual mass counts from 1/3rd of Catholic parishes, membership information has been merged with attendance patterns from similar dioceses based on the size of the diocese and the region in which it is located. Orthodox Churches are included in Totals, but not included as a separate group because of smallness of size nationwide. Division into Evangelical and Mainline categories is based on the division by the Glenmary Study. This study only looks at how many people attend a Christian church on any given Sunday. The term ‘regular attender’ can be designated to mean someone who attends a Christian church on a consistent basis. Using a simple definition for ‘regular attender’ (attends at least 3 out of every 8 Sundays), between 23% and 25% of Americans would fit this category. Adding ‘regular attenders’ of non-orthodox christian churches and other religions to the totals would increase the percentage to 26% – 28%. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

This Presentation is based on a nationwide study of American church attendance, as reported by churches and denominations. The database currently has average worship attendances for each of the last 10 years for over 170,000 individual churches. It also uses supplementary information (actual membership numbers correlated with accurate membership to attendance ratios) to project the attendances of all other denominational and independent churches. All told, accurate information is provided for all 300,000 orthodox Christian churches.1 1 This presentation looks only at people attending orthodox Christian churches. Approximately 3 million people attend non-orthodox Christian churches, and perhaps 3 million attend a religious service of another religion. Those ‘houses of worship’ would add another 35,000 churches in the United States and increase the 2000 percentage to 20.5%. © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

For More Information . . . Presentations such as this are available for the largest 100 metropolitan areas, for each state and for the nation as a whole, as well as other presentations to show what is happening in the American church. Presentations are available either by direct download, CD or print. Please go to for ordering information. To Contact Dave Olson, please him at © 2004 by David T. Olson Sample - Not for Public Use

The State of the Church in South Dakota

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