Progressive Conservative Mennonite Churches

[Ernie]

For those of you who are part of churches in the Progressive (Fundamental) Conservative constituency, what is your guess as to the average family size? (I'm thinking of families in which the parents are 40 and younger and who spent most of their adult years in this constituency)

Off the top of my head, I would guess 2-3 children but that category includes young couples who are just starting their families. For those over 40 who have mostly finished having children i would guess 4-5.

Ok. Thanks. I did not ask it the right way.

I'm wondering about family size of those who are mostly finished having children, who spent most of their adult years in this constituency.

[Ernie]

For those of you who are part of churches in the Progressive (Fundamental) Conservative constituency, what is your guess as to the average family size? (I'm thinking of families in which the parents are 40 and younger and who spent most of their adult years in this constituency)

For those over 40 who have mostly finished having children i would guess 4-5.

I'm wondering if the moderate-conservative constituency has a similar number or if it is higher.

[Wesleyb]

For those of you who are part of churches in the Progressive (Fundamental) Conservative constituency, what is your guess as to the average family size? (I'm thinking of families in which the parents are 40 and younger and who spent most of their adult years in this constituency)

For those over 40 who have mostly finished having children i would guess 4-5.

I'm wondering if the moderate-conservative constituency has a similar number or if it is higher.

I would guess about the same for the ones I know. Maybe just slightly higher. As with my church I can think of lots of families with 2,3 or 4 children, then there are a few with 8,9,10 or 11 that skew the average up.

[JohnH]

For those of you who are part of churches in the Progressive (Fundamental) Conservative constituency, what is your guess as to the average family size? (I'm thinking of families in which the parents are 40 and younger and who spent most of their adult years in this constituency)

For those over 40 who have mostly finished having children i would guess 4-5.

I'm wondering if the moderate-conservative constituency has a similar number or if it is higher.

Thinking of a few churches nearby where I can count how many kids everyone has, they seem to be the same. (Eg comparing ADC/BMA to Beachy/Mid-West.) I excluded families who matriculated from a different background.

I would put the number at 2-3 though on average. Some families have none (infertility has become sadly common.) Some have 5 or 6.

I hope Cory Anderson does research on this particular topic amongst affiliations.

[ohio jones]

For families that have at least one child high school age or younger, including adult children from those families, and not excluding those who might have more children in the future (I expect some will, but how would one forecast that?). For my church:
Range: 1-9
Average: 2.9
Median: 3
Mode: 3

[Wesleyb]

For families that have at least one child high school age or younger, including adult children from those families, and not excluding those who might have more children in the future (I expect some will, but how would one forecast that?). For my church:
Range: 1-9
Average: 2.9
Median: 3
Mode: 3

Using OJ's criteria on my church without Ernie's filter:
Range: 1-9
Average: 3.6
Median: 3
Mode: 2

Excluding young couples I consider very likely to have more children, two from non-Menno background and 1 from more conservative I get the following. I would consider these numbers to be more representative of our church's culture.
Range: 2-9
Average: 4.1
Median: 4
Mode: 2,4

If I were to include older couples with no children in school I think it would bump the numbers up a little.

[the-real-steve]

.... then people like mike and I come along and light these statistics on fire

[mike]

.... then people like mike and I come along and light these statistics on fire

You can tell that simply by looking at OJ's stats. The range is 1-9 but the other numbers are all 3 or less. I guess every church has that odd family...

For families that have at least one child high school age or younger, including adult children from those families, and not excluding those who might have more children in the future (I expect some will, but how would one forecast that?). For my church:
Range: 1-9
Average: 2.9
Median: 3
Mode: 3

[JohnH]

.... then people like mike and I come along and light these statistics on fire

You can tell that simply by looking at OJ's stats. The range is 1-9 but the other numbers are all 3 or less. I guess every church has that odd family...

For families that have at least one child high school age or younger, including adult children from those families, and not excluding those who might have more children in the future (I expect some will, but how would one forecast that?). For my church:
Range: 1-9
Average: 2.9
Median: 3
Mode: 3

Well, you aren’t exactly in the affiliation mentioned either.

[Ernie]

I guess every church has that odd family...

Every Plain church maybe. There are many Christian churches with 3 children being the high number.

What are the numbers for your congregation?