Beyond the Ordinary

Praying together but bowling alone?

By Perry Chang

Are people who attend worship at religious congregations involved in their community no only through their congregation but also through other organizations? And what difference might this make for worshipers and their communities?

In Bowling Alone, political scientist Robert Putnam decried what he saw as a decline in community involvement across the country. Putnam noticed the numerical decline of bowling leagues and other such civic organizations. Putnam linked the decline in community organizations to lower levels of trust, which he believes makes communities less dynamic and less livable.

Putnam conceded that some organizations, including religious congregations, may be inwardly focused and may steer worshipers away from involvement in other kinds of organizations. This may be good for building close-knit local groups, but not for building bridges across these groups. Worshipers in congregations, in other words, may be praying together but still "bowling alone."

Responses from the 2008-2009 U.S. Congregational Life Survey show that people who attend worship at least weekly are more likely to volunteer to help people or improve their community through their congregation than those who attend worship less often.

Results also show that worshipers who volunteer to help their community through the congregation are more likely to volunteer through organizations other than the congregation. When asked whether, in general, most people can be trusted or if one can't be too careful in dealing with people, worshipers who volunteer through their congregation or outside of their congregation are also more likely than other worshipers to say most people can be trusted.

In short, people who pray together are involved in their communities. They are not bowling alone. In this way, involvement in relgious congregations may help build better, more diverse communities.

 

Where do men go to church? Seven misconceptions

By Cynthia Woolever

1.  There are more women in church because women live longer than men.

In every age group, women outnumber men in the pews.

 
2.  Just as many men attend but women attend more often.

Neither part of this statement is true. There are more women among weekly attendees and among those who are less frequent worshipers. Women are only slightly more likely to attend worship on a weekly basis than men. Sixty-two percent of all frequent worshipers are women; 59% of less frequent worshipers are women.

3.  More men attend conservative Protestant churches.

The highest percentage of men attending worship services occurs among worshipers ages 15 to 24 in Catholic parishes (56% are women; 44% are men). And the lowest percentage of men in the pew also occurs in Catholic parishes—among attendees age 65 and older (64% are women and 36% are men). Yet the gender imbalance remains remarkably consistent across age groups and faith traditions—ranging from 56% to 64% women in the pews. For Catholics and mainline Protestants, the percentage of women in the pews tends to rise slightly as worshipers age.

 
4.  Women like small churches and two out of three churches are small.

Women always outnumber men, regardless of the number of people in worship. The percentage of male and female worshipers remains the same across churches of varying sizes. Larger Protestant churches, with 501 ot 1,000 worshipers attract the highest percentage of men (43%).

 
5.  But these national statistics don't take into account the region of the country. Don't Southern women go to church more than anyone else?

The percentages of men and women worshipers do not vary much by region of the country either. In fact, the highest percentages of male worshipers are in the South (43% male attendees compared to 39% nationally).

 
6.  Okay, but aren't there some churches with more men than women?

In our national sample of congregations, the percentages of men in any single congregation ranged from 0% to 67%. Only 2% had more men than women. If a church or parish achieves a 50/50 gender ration, they are in the top 98% of all congregations in their ability to attract men to their services.

7.  But this gender imbalance is something new, right? Isn't there an ever-widening gap between the number fo male and female churchgoers?

For 700 years or possibly longer, observers have noted the lack of men in church. Is it possible to attract more men to achieve a greater balance between male and female worshipers? Yes! Consider the options presented in David Murrow's book, Why Men Hate Going to Church.

 

 

Grassroots evangelists: Who they are and how they share

By Joelle Anderson

Although the prospect of evangelizing may evoke dread, discomfort, and discouragement among many worshipers, some evangelize with enthusiasm. These worshipers are not professional evangelists like Billy Graham. They are "grassroots evangelists"—typical worshipers with an atypical passion to share their faith. They are comfortable talking about their faith and seek opportunities to do so, and report inviting at least one non-churchgoing friend or relative to a worship service at their congregation in the previous year. How are "grassroots evangelists" different from other worshipers?

Grassroots evangelists have strong personal faith.  Grassroots evangelists are more likely to have had a conversion experience (70% vs. 45% of other worshipers), which may motivate them to share their faith with others. They are also more likely to make their faith development a priority by spending time in private devotional activities every day or most days (74% vs. 48%).

Grassroots evangelists attend congregations where evangelism is a priority.  Nearly all grassroots evangelists heard a sermon at their congregation in the past year about why worshipers should invite others (97% vs. 67% of other worshipers). More grassroots evangelists say that inviting others or sharing faith is a top priority at their congregation (50% vs. 19%) and that their congregation's members relate openly and warmly to new people (60% vs. 35%). Nearly half of grassroots evangelists (44%) attend a conservative Protestant congregation; 31% attend a Catholic parish; and one-quarter attend a mainline Protestant congregation.

Grassroots evangelists are connected to their congregation.  Compared to other worshipers, more grassroots evangelists strongly agree that their spiritual needs are being met in their congregation (69% vs. 31%) and more have a strong and growing sense of belonging to their congregation (74% vs. 37%). The enrichment and connecting these grassroots evangelists derive from their congregation may motivate them to invite others to worship.

Most grassroots evangelists invite friends.  Among worshipers who invited at least one person to worship or another activity in the past 12 months, most grassroots evangelists—like other worshipers—invite a friend. More grassroots evangelists than other worshipers invited a co-worker or a stranger.

Most grassroots evangelists invite others to worship.  Of those who invited someone, grassroots evangelists and other worshipers most often invited someone to a worship service (90% of grassroots evangelists; 86% of other worshipers). Grassroots evangelists were more likely than other worshipers to invite someone to Sunday school, church school, or Sabbath school (19% vs. 8% of other worshipers) or to a prayer, discussion, or Bible study group (23% vs. 8%).

Enhancing grassroots evangelism.  Grassroots evangelists' deep inner faith and congregational connections are associated with their evangelistic activities, which may in turn promote congregational growth and vitality. How can your congregation encourage grassroots evangelism among its attenders?

When and how do pastors live out their call?

By Cynthia Woolever

While ordained clergy serve in a variety of settings, our research focuses on pastors serving as leaders in congregations. We found some general patterns in the career paths of pastors as they live out their call in local church ministry. We also know from previous research that when and how people are called to serve changes over time.

Here are a few key findings from the U.S. Congregational Life Survey study of pastors conducted in 2008 and 2009. (One key leader in a national random sample of congregation completed the leader survey.) We compare some of our results to those found in an earlier study, reported in Clergy Women: An Uphill Calling (see note below for additional information on the earlier study).

• Catholic priests have distinctive career paths when compared to Protestant pastors: Most priests (67%) have spent more than two decades in ministry. They also move the most from job to job compared to other pastors (Catholic priests average 5 positions; mainline Protestant pastors, 4 positions; conservative Protestant pastors, 3 positions).
•  Mainline Protestant women pastors also have distinctive career paths: Almost all (90%) are in ministry as their second career. They are clustered in the early-career stage (48% have fewer than 10 years in ministry) to mid-career stage (48% have between 10 and 20 years in ministry). In contrast, half of mainline Protestant male pastors (51%) have served more than 20 years in parish ministry.
• The percentage of mainline senior or solo Protestant pastors that are women has climbed to 28%. This represents a substantial increase since 1994.
• The career paths for conservative Protestant pastors are different from other pastors as well: Most of these clergy have longer tenure in their current job as a local church pastor (having served a median of 10 years, compared to 5 years for mainline Protestant pastors and 5 years for Catholic priests). They hold fewer jobs over their ministry career when compared to other pastors. Of those with a prior career, conservative Protestant pastors have spent the longest time in their previous occupation (a median of 10 years in previous occupation, compared to 7 years for mainline Protestant pastors and 6 years for Catholic priests).
• In general, a small percentage of Protestant clergy serve as senior pastors at some point in their career. Overall, the percentage of church pastors serving as a senior pastor at any given time does not exceed 15%.
• Protestant clergy tend to move out of associate pastor roles the longer that they stay in parish ministry.
• Over the course of their ministry career, increasing percentages of Protestant pastors move into interim ministry positions.
• Parish pastors stay in their ministry positions longer, the longer they are in parish ministry. Frequent job changes tend to occur in the earlier career stages.

Interested in learning more about the shifting landscape of clergy career paths? View the slides from my presentation at the recent Religious Research Association meeting.

Note: In 1994, the Center for Social and Religious Research at Hartford Seminary (later to become the Hartford Institute for Religion Research) received a Lilly Endowment grant to study clergywomen. The central goal was to “assess the profession of ordained ministry as it is being lived out in the lives of clergy women in the 1990s and to understand how these patterns are the same as or different from those experienced by men.” Clergywomen—serving in congregations and elsewhere—in 15 Protestant denominations participated.

Who are emerging adults and where do they go to church?

By Cynthia Woolever

New research about emerging adults or “millennials”—young adults ages 18 to 29—is on the rise. Conrad Hackett, a demographer at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, analyzed the U.S. Congregational Life Survey’s subsample of young adults attending Catholic, mainline Protestant, and evangelical Protestant congregations. He summarizes his findings in five key areas.

How common are emerging adults in congregations?  

• Few emerging adults attend worship. In the general population, two in ten people are emerging adults (22%). In congregations, emerging adults comprise just one in ten worshipers (10%).
• Evangelical Protestant congregations have the highest concentration of emerging adults (14%), followed by Catholic parishes (10%). Mainline Protestants have the lowest concentration (6%).

What are the traits of emerging adults in congregations?

• The majority of emerging adults who attend worship have never been married. However, most emerging adults do eventually marry by the time they are 26. Thus, by age 29, the never married comprise only one in four emerging adult worshipers. In contrast, only 1 in 13 older adults have never been married.
• Women make up six in ten emerging adult worshipers (the same gender ratio as worshipers in general).
• The majority of emerging adults attending worship services have no children.
• Most emerging adult attendees were born in the United States. Foreign-born emerging adults are most common in Catholic parishes (three in ten emerging adults). Nearly 40% of Catholic emerging adults identified as Hispanic—regardless of where they were born.
• About two-thirds of emerging adults in congregations participate in the labor force. Nearly four in ten are students.

How are emerging adults involved in congregational life?

• Emerging adults worshipping in evangelical churches are the most likely of all attendees to attend weekly.
• Emerging adults do not contribute as much of their income to the congregation as older adults do, on average. About a quarter give at least 5% of their net income (this compares to 50% for older adults).
• Most members of both age groups say they have at least some close friends in the congregation. However, emerging adults were more likely than older adults to report little contact with others in the congregation. Among emerging adults, one in ten evangelicals, two in ten mainliners, and three in ten Catholics report little contact with other worshipers outside of church.

What do emerging adults value in congregations?

• Emerging adults and older adults attending worship services appreciate similar aspects of their congregation: the sermons or homilies, sharing in communion, and traditional worship.
• However, emerging adults are more likely than older worshipers to value some other features as well: contemporary worship, evangelism, social activities of the congregation, and openness to social diversity.

 What are the characteristics of congregations where at least 10% of worshipers are emerging adults?

In 95% of the congregations in the study, emerging adults are underrepresented compared with their presence in the U.S. population (22% of adults).

• The average congregation in the national sample had 8% emerging adults (compared to 10% emerging adults in the sample of individual worshipers). This difference is due to the concentration of emerging adults in large congregations.
• One in ten mainline Protestant congregations (10%), one in three Catholic parishes (31%), and six in ten evangelical congregations (59%) meet the threshold of 10% emerging-adults.
• Emerging adults are concentrated in congregations that are larger, have proportionally more men, and are more racially diverse.
• Congregations with high concentrations of emerging adults tend to be more theologically conservative than other congregations. This pattern was found across Catholic and Protestant traditions.

Read Dr. Hackett’s entire essay.

Dr. Hackett’s work is part of The Changing Spirituality of Emerging Adults Project. Read other essays from this project.