Las Vegas churches reflect national trends

      Church growth in Las Vegas is affected by regional and national trends, according to consultants and academics.
      Consistently, polls of Las Vegans have shown that one-third of the population never attends church, said Donald Carns, a sociology professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
      The Western United States is characterized by less church membership than other regions, according to Ralph Pyle, another member of UNLV's sociology faculty.
      One 1990 study ranked Nevada last among all states in the percentage of residents -- 32.1 percent -- who belong to a religious congregation. Pyle is the author of a book published in 1996, "Persistence and Change in the Protestant Establishment."
      Small congregations are proliferating not just in boomtowns like Las Vegas, but across the country, according to the Rev. Peter Wagner of Fuller Theological Seminary.
      More important than a denominational label, churchgoers are seeking "churches that have a contemporary feel, that they perceive as meeting their needs and the needs of their family," Wagner said.
      "I call it the new apostolic Reformation," he concluded. "It's the biggest change in the way of `doing church' since Martin Luther" created the Protestant movement in the 16th-century Reformation.
      According to Charles Arn, who heads a California consulting business called Church Growth Inc., small churches and so-called megachurches are growing -- apparently at the expense of medium-sized congregations of between 200 and 500 people.
      "The small churches, basically their ace in the hole is community and fellowship and a feeling of being wanted and cared for," Arn said. "Whereas large churches, their best offering, so to speak, is diversity in programming."