[Cassidy]

Freedom> if a single congregation were to increase membership from 750 to 3000 over 15 years, that would be impressive.

The debate is not about the size of the local churches compared to the population of Europe... it is about the membership growth rate referred to by Dr. Tomes. This data point showing a fourfold increase in membership in at least one geography (Europe) refutes Dr. Tomes' Google Trend declaration of declining interest and the negative impact upon membership for roughly the same period of time. His declaration would have been validated if the 750 members in 2000 had dropped to something less in 2014.

Also, the starting point for Dr. Tomes declining interest study begins in 2004, so membership prior to that is not applicable to the comparison. Dr. Tomes set the parameters for the claims he made based on the trends from 2004 to 2014.

That's all really. It is not to say that this data point is the only data point required to establish the actual growth rate ... it just shows that Dr. Tomes' claims are unsubstantiated by other data points.