One major continuing theme in human history on this planet has been the temptation to choose up sides between "us" and "them." One expression of this has been the quarrels between clans or between tribes and, in more recent centuries, between nations. A common focal point of this quarrel has been over control. Who will shape our future? Us? Or them? Our past as we remember it? Or our future as they believe it should be defined? Hundreds of millions of human beings have lost their lives over those quarrels. One example was the three wars between Germany and France in the 1860 to 1945 era. More recent has been the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Tutsis and Hutus in Rwanda in 1994 and the current fighting between the Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq and the genocide in Darfur.

The oldest lines of demarcation in American Christianity have been and continue to be skin color, nationality and language, with theology a distant fourth in terms of visibility and denominational affiliation continuing to drop down on that list in terms of influence. From the 1840s into the 1960s, the highest and most visible line of demarcation in American Christianity was the one separating Protestants and Roman Catholics. As recently as the 1950s, one of the central organizing principles in several American Protestant denominations was to utilize that ancient organizing principle for reinforcing a sense of unity and cohesion by identifying a common enemy and organizing "our people" against "them." For many ministers, that called for identifying the Roman Catholic Church as the common enemy. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy followed by Vatican Two, plus a growing number of interfaith marriages, have nearly erased that line of demarcation.

Another line that gained high visibility was drawn in the late 1700s and became highly visible in the 1920s. It separated the Protestant fundamentalists from the middle-of-the-theological-road Trinitarians. Many would contend that is the No.1 line of demarcation in America today.

In his visit to Turkey in November 2006, Pope Benedict XVI made it clear he believed that the most important line of demarcation in the world today is not between Islam and Christianity, but between people of a religious faith and people of no religious faith. He also affirmed his conviction that another line was between those who are willing to use violence to win converts and those who refuse to use violence on behalf of any cause. In his fourth national survey of religion and politics in America, John C. Green of Akron University reported that, in 2004, 26.3% of the adult population identify themselves as evangelical Protestants, 16% as mainline Protestants, 9.6% as black Protestants, 2.8% as Latino Protestants, 22% as Catholics, 5.3% as unaffiliated believers, 10.7% as secularists, agnostics, or atheists, and 7.3% as "others."

In his recent book, Who Really Cares?, Arthur C. Brooks refers to the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey. This survey found that Americans who go to church weekly are, by a margin of 25 percentage points, more likely to contribute money to a charitable cause than are non-attenders. They also give four times as many dollars to charitable causes as do the self-identified secularists. Religious Americans also are more likely to give to non-church social welfare causes and to volunteer their time than are secularists.

Congregational Self-Identity
What does that mean for your congregation? A quick review of a dozen lines of demarcation may help you understand the increasing differences among congregations in American Protestantism. This may help as you prepare a customized five-year ministry plan for your congregation. This also will help denominational leaders designing resources for congregations understand why no one program or training event will be relevant to the needs of every congregation.

One of the most important lines of demarcation separates those congregations that for the past several years have experienced a gradual decrease in their average weekend worship attendance from those that have been experiencing at least a 5% annual increase for several years. A second relevant line separates those in which most of the adults in worship were born before 1965 from those in which the majority were born in 1965 or later. Some will argue that a more important line separates those congregations that have been receiving at least three new members by profession of faith or adult baptism year after year from those that rarely welcome more than two new members by those two routes annually. For all of American Protestantism, at least one half of congregations received two or fewer new members by those routes in any recent year.

The recent exodus of "cradle Catholics" from Roman Catholic parishes to Protestant congregations has reversed the flow of the 1950s and created an important new line of demarcation. On one side are those Protestant churches that report in the typical recent year 35 to 80 percent of their new adult constituents had been born, baptized and reared in a Catholic family. Most of these tend to be numerically growing evangelical Protestant congregations averaging at least 750 at worship. On the other side of that line are the majority of American Protestant churches who report receiving fewer than five Catholic migrants in the typical year.

One of the most significant lines of demarcation separates those congregations that offer one or two "presentation" type worship services, often resembling a 1955 model, every weekend from those in which the weekend worship schedule includes at least one highly participatory type worship experience.

Overlapping that pattern is a sixth line that separates those churches that prefer classical Christian hymns, often accompanied by either piano or organ music, from those that prefer "praise music," usually composed after 1980 and frequently accompanied by string instruments and/or a band.

Several experts in the church growth movement place a heavy emphasis on a seventh line that separates congregations in which the typical pastorate, except for the occasional intentional interim of sic to 24 months, is 18 to 30 years from those congregations in which the typical pastorate rarely exceeds seven years. The erosion of denominational loyalties, the gradual disappearance of the neighborhood church, and the arrival of consumerism has meant that an increasing share of the continuity in congregational life is in the person of the pastor rather than in the real estate, the location, the denominational affiliation or local traditions.

The increase in discontinuity in the American culture as well as in the American economy in recent decades has placed greater value on an eighth line of demarcation that is reflected in the earlier references to the generations born in 1965 and later to the Catholic-to-Protestant migration and to changes in worship. This is the line between the old emphasis on producer-driven planning and to a greater weight given consumer-driven planning. As recently as the early 1960s, the identity of an American Christian congregation often was defined by six or seven characteristics: (a) the skin color, nationality and language of the members, (b) inherited denominational loyalties, (c) the location and design of the meeting place, (d) the social class of the members, (e) the attractiveness of the Sunday school, (f) the image created by a distinctive denominational affiliation and, occasionally, (g) the personality, gifts and values of a long-tenured pastor. Those characteristics usually were extremely influential in determining the identity of the next 200 new constituents. "This is who we are and what we offer," was the foundation stone for planning.

A related consequence of (a) the arrival of the generations born after World War II and (b) the spread of discontinuity all across the nation is a ninth line of demarcation in the American population. On one side are those who want to help to perpetuate the past. On the other side are those who are eager to create the new. Today, far greater weight in planning for ministry must be given to the expectations younger generations and recent immigrants bring to church.

One consequence has been a tremendous increase in the salaries paid players in major league baseball, basketball and football. Another was the emergence of a place in California called Silicon Valley. A third was a change in how Americans receive the news about today's world. A fourth has been in music. A fifth has been the replacement of the printed word on paper with projected visual imagery. A fifth has been that since 1980 the cost of college tuition and fees has increased at four times the rate of increase in the Consumer Price Index. A sixth has been the ease with which American Christians, without changing their place of residence, switch their church affiliation from one congregation to another. A seventh consequence has been that huge increase since 1960 in the number of Americans worshipping with a nondenominational Protestant megachurch on the typical weekend.

Our next line of demarcation rests on a less-than-perfect database. What is absolutely certain is that congregations in American Protestantism-like variety stores, hospitals, teenagers, professional football players, motor vehicles, airports and universities-are much larger than they were back in the 1950s. Fifty years ago, the largest one percent of all Protestant congregations in America accounted for somewhere in the range of 5 to 6 percent of all worshippers on the typical weekend. Today, the largest one percent account for somewhere between 14 and 18 percent. The number of congregations averaging 800 or more at weekend worship has grown, while the proportion averaging 150 to 450 has decreased.

One consequence is the megachurches are doing what denominational systems did in the 1950s. Instead of sending money to support denominationally appointed missionaries to other continents, they now send volunteer teams to work in ministry with fellow Christians in sister churches in other parts of the world. Instead of purchasing resources from denominational agencies, megachurches are creating and marketing resources. Instead of sending money to help someone else organize a new church, they plant a new mission or decide to become a multisite congregation. One consequence is while most Protestant congregations in America schedule worship in only one language every weekend, a growing number of large churches schedule worship services in two to six different languages every weekend. Another consequence is megachurches are now equipping future generations of parish ministers.

The old line of demarcation was between denominations connecting with one another for future members. The new line of demarcation is between megachurches competing with denominational systems for the loyalty of active churchgoers born after 1965.

The next line of demarcation is reflected in the drop in attendance at denominational meetings. In the second quarter of the 20th century, denominational meetings often attracted an enthusiastic crowd of laypersons who were eager to be challenged to support missions and evangelism. In the last quarter of the 20th century, attendance often dropped as those interested in intra-denominational quarreling came prepared to advocate their point of view. Those more interested in missions and evangelism stayed away. The past several years have created a new line of demarcation. On one side are those denominational officials who declare, "The only problem we have is a shortage of money and of congregational support." On the other side are the laity who diagnose that as a rejection of accountability by the leadership and/or as denial. Since they have little interest in playing the blame game, they stay away and focus their time, money and energy on expanding the ministries of their congregation or switch their loyalty to a megachurch in which missions and evangelism are high priorities.