But 2001 survey data collected by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research suggests that as many as 10 million Americans attend an estimated 35,000 independent and nondenominational churches. That's 13 percent of the total population of congregations.
That a handful of such churches are thriving in and around Eugene — one of the most secular or "unchurched" cities in one of the most unchurched states may be especially surprising.
The Eugene Yellow Pages list 29 nondenominational churches.
Gary Clark, senior pastor at Eugene Christian Fellowship, says it didn't take long after arriving in 1980 to figure out that many people here are skeptical of mainline churches.
"They don't like being told what to do," he says. "Churches that are just there to defend the faith and perpetuate the traditional past people are staying away from those churches in droves."
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