By Deborah Bruce
In my last post, I described the ways weekly worshipers differ demographically from those who attend more often. Now let's look at other ways these groups differ.
More involved. Not surprisingly, weekly worshipers are more involved in their congregations. Compared to other worshipers, those who attend on a weekly basis are more likely to: be involved in a small group in their congregation (church school, Bible study, men's or women's group), take part in their congregation's evangelism and community service activities, hold a leadership role in the church (e.g., governing board, committee member, choir member, small group leader, or church school teacher), have invited someone to visit their church in the past year, participate in congregational decision making, and give 5% or more of income to the church. And despite these higher rates of involvement, those who attend weekly are also more likely to say their participation is increasing!
| Attend Weekly |
Attend Less Often | |
|---|---|---|
| Participate in small group | 60% | 30% |
| Participate in church’s evangelism activities |
21% | 6% |
| Participate in church’s community service activities |
21% | 9% |
| Hold leadership role | 47% | 18% |
| Invited someone | 47% | 32% |
| Participate in decision making | 33% | 15% |
| Give 5% or more | 54% | 21% |
| Report increasing participation | 28% | 17% |
Other civic engagement. Worshipers who attend less often than weekly are involved in their communities at about the same rates as those who attend weekly. Recall that worshipers in general are more engaged in their communities than non-worshipers. It appears that being a worshiper who participates in a community of faith is what is related to participation in these types of activities that help strengthen communities—not frequency of worship attendance.
| Attend Weekly |
Attend Less Often | |
|---|---|---|
| Participate in community service work separate from the congregation |
31% | 32% |
| Voted in the last presidential election | 83% | 79% |
| Made a charitable donation | 74% | 70% |
| Worked on a community problem | 21% | 20% |
Perceptions of their congregation. Frequent attendance is linked to more positive feedback about the congregation. Weekly worshipers are more likely to say that worship services help them with everyday living, that their spiritual needs are being met in the congregation and that they experience a strong and growing sense of belonging to their congregation. Unfortunately we can't determine whether worshipers attend more often because of these positive experiences or if they have positive experiences because of their more frequent attendance.
| Attend Weekly |
Attend Less Often | |
|---|---|---|
| Worship services help to a great extent with daily living |
63% | 34% |
| Spiritual needs are being met in the congregation |
88% | 70% |
| Strong, growing sense of belonging to the congregation |
48% | 23% |
Keep in mind that the U.S. Congregational Life Survey was conducted in worship. Thus, weekly worshipers were more likely to have participated than those who attend less often. That means that if we had included all worshipers who ever attended a congregation over a year the true proportion who attend weekly is less than the 76% found in our survey. Nonetheless, I'm confident that the pattern of differences shown here would emerge again if all worshipers were surveyed.
In what ways does your congregation reach out to those who come to worship relatively infrequently? Are there ways to ensure those who attend less than weekly are not at risk of drifting away from the congregation entirely?
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