Running head: CHURCH ATTENDANCE

Church Attendance: The Trends and Why They Occur Jill Foster University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Running head: CHURCH ATTENDANCE Introduction:

Church is embedded in my DNA; I have attended church for my entire life. I grew up with church as a weekly routine, never missing a Sunday. Every Sunday morning, my family and I wake up at 7:00 AM and begin getting ready. Around 7:45 AM, my dad and I always sit at the kitchen island, and talk as we wait on my mom to finish getting ready. At 8:05 AM, were out the door, and headed to church. My dad always drives, and we usually just chat in the car, small talk. We arrive at church at 8:25 AM, and my dad backs into the same parking spot we always park in. After service, we sit in the same pew, we stand and talk to the same people, and then have a small breakfast of toast and coffee in the fellowship hall at the same table. During Sunday school, if its the fourth Sunday, my mom and I teach the 1st-3rd grade Sunday school class while my dad counts offering in the basement, if its not the 4th Sunday my mom and I help him. Next Sunday, we wash, rinse and repeat. This routine life is comfortable, average, and this way of life used to be a standard for many families, especially those living in the South. This standard is the reason why my parents have introduced church into my brother and Is life; they were raised in a church, and now they have raised their children this way as well. My parents are pretty typical in they expect me to live my life this way as well. I have a slightly skewed opinion on the topic of church attendance, and the trends that occur and are associated with church attendance, because of my upbringing. Since I have grown up in the same church my whole life and always attended the same church service every Sunday, and havent really known any other way, it is hard for me to state whether or not church attendance is declining. For me, every Sunday is virtually the same with a few small details that change from Sunday to Sunday. Overall; the same people sit in the same pews, on the same side. The difference from each Sunday to the next is which families come, and which decide to stay home that weekend

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and of course the main reason that people attend church in the first place- the message, the message each week changes, and this keeps people coming back to sit in the same pew every week. From forgiveness to praise to love, the message each week is different, new stories are told, and different scripture is interpreted in a new way each week. While there are new members as time goes on, some people leave, and some people die and different sermons are preached, the basic makeup of the church has remained the same. From my observations at my own home church, I do note some things that are a familiar routine for the different people at the church. The discourse communities, the literacy practices, and the artifacts of the church are specific examples of things that have remained the same over time, and been a key factor in holding together a church built on faith and union of believers (Foster, 2013). However; my personal opinion, while may not be supported by my parents is probably typical for my generation: I associate myself as a Christian, I have been baptized and confirmed, and I attend church on a regular basis, but I do not necessarily believe that to be a good Christian, you have to attend church every week, or even at all. Blackwell states that there are many things that the bible says about attending worship and how to be a good Christian, but what everything boils down to is more simply being a good person, and following the important rules that the lord outlines for us. (Blackwell, 2011). I am doing a narrative research paper on church attendance and some of the trends that occur in conjunction with the church. This paper will address the overall opinion that most people in the church world have about church attendance, that it is declining, some sources that back this up and support that fact that church attendance is declining, and some sources that say this is wrong, that church attendance isnt declining. I will also address why these trends are supposedly occurring, and ways that some scholars suggest are ways to boast church attendance.

Running head: CHURCH ATTENDANCE

In this paper, my figured world, churches across America, along with the actors of this figured world will be analyzed throughout my variety of sources to determine which of these trends are actually happening, why, and if possible, how to counteract any of the trends that may have a negative impact on the church body. Literature Review:

With my personal experience with attending church my whole life, it is hard for me to identify issues in this figured world, mostly because I have become accustomed to this figured world, its discourse communities, literacy practices, etc. With this being said, after completing assignment one, the observations, and more specifically the interview I began to look a little deeper than I usually would at a usual Sunday at church. During the interview, my pastor pointed out a few key things that I had been causally looking over, and really opened up my eyes to see that they were real issues that we as a church congregation face as time continues on and the church world continues to change (Foster J. N.,2013). First, lets look at the numbers. A recent survey was conducted in America, where people were asked how often they attend church, and then considering how often they said they attended, they were asked why or why not. This survey produced results that seem to be a common trend that surveys asking similar questions have also gotten. 35% of people stated that they attend church at least once a week, 10% said almost every week, another 10% said about once a month, 28% said seldom, and 16 % said never (Newport, 2007).While these numbers are typical, I have come across sources that state that people in America do not go to church quite as often as they say they do. Americans, being selfrighteous Americans that we are, want people to think that we do lots of good or socially acceptable things (i.e. church, voting, and volunteering) and not a lot of bad or socially un desirable things (i.e. smoking and drinking). This can be described as the Halo Effect (Lowry and Barnes). People participate in this trend of over reporting, and suffer from the Halo Effect

Running head: CHURCH ATTENDANCE

for a variety of reasons, the most common reason being that people feel self-guilt, where a person feels guilty about not doing something, and when asked will respond in a way that will make it seem as if they did do what they feel guilty about not doing. This can lead to denial, where the person denies to others, and even themselves that they did or did not do something (Bills, 2013). In America, people are also starting to look at the health benefits to attending church, in an article by Musick, House, and Williams, they address the question of how church effects ones health and mortality. They state that of the people who say that they attend church at least once a month, these people have a 30-35 percent reduced risk of death over a 7.5 year follow up period. They address this statistic with fact, by stating that this may not exactly be a result of the attending church per say but more the fact that typically people who attend church are people who do not participate in activities that contribute to death at an earlier age, or maybe its the extra prayers those church goers receive in times of sickness (Musick, House, and Williams, 2004).

So, is church attendance really declining? And, how do we tell? The answers to these questions tend to vary based on whose asking, and whos answering. According to Lowry and Barnes, church attendance isnt declining, its just changing. Church is moving towards small groups of people participating in bible study type worship, and away from large churches where there is little to know personal interaction (Lowry & Barnes, n.d.). This view of church attendance changing is not a very popular take on the church attendance question, mostly because people, especially church officials seem to be afraid of this trend. They dont particularly want people to move away from the big traditional church services. However; in my opinion, the church experience should be an experience that is unique to each individual, and whichever form of worship or mixture of forms of worship fit them the best should be the one that they stick too. Most sources are saying that church attendance has fell from the 1950s, and

Running head: CHURCH ATTENDANCE

will continue to fall as the years pass. Another important question to ask is why. Why is church attendance supposedly declining? And, why do people go to church? In this article, Presser and Chaves bring up the point that there is no data that shows that church service attendance is actually on the decline from the 1950s. They state that it hasnt declined, but more or less just changed in the way that people go about worship. There are many different arguments and statements from just about anyone on this topic, and Presser and Chaves talk about and analyze the most common ones in this article (Presser and Chaves, 2004). A recent survey suggests that there is one most common reason that non-church goers offer as an answer to why they do not attend church, and that is that they do not agree with organized religion (Thompson, 2013).

While it is important to look at surveys and do the best to interpret the results and eventually come to a conclusion, Iannaccone and Everton suggest some very valid points, one very striking one is the fact that over and over the same surveys are being given, asking do you go to church or not and why? and scholars are shocked that the answers are pretty much always the same. They suggest asking different questions, or better yet looking at actual churches attendance and stop listening to what people self-report (Iannaccone and Everton, 2004).

In a video by the Christian Broadcasting Network a pastor, Steve Gray, looks into what church is today in this modern society, how it has changed, and why. He states that Christianity today is an Absurd Religion, and that people need to get back down to the basics of what Christianity is and stop relying on everything or anything else. He also looks into the scripture to give people a theoretical idea of what kind of church God himself would be proud to attend. This helps shed some light on a very controversial idea, for thousands of years people have read the bible and thousands of people have interpreted it in thousands of different ways. So with this being said, if we handed the same bible to someone who has a different opinion on church

Running head: CHURCH ATTENDANCE attendance then they could potentially interpret it a completely different way. This idea is

important for a modern Christian to think about and do a little evaluation of themselves and consider what is logical and what is not when listening to a many different sources with their own opinions seeping into your own. It is important for people to form their own opinions and do what fits their lifestyle the best (Christian Broadcasting Network, 2008).

Enter the Conversation: I think that one way to improve church attendance in todays society is to make church service what people want. I think it is important to ask people what they want to get out of church, and how they think the best way to accomplish that is and use what the people say to adjust or simply make improvements to what they already have in place. People are probably more likely to go somewhere that they enjoy. With that being said, Churches everywhere are looking for ways to make their church more appealing, fun, and modern, but what they arent doing is extending the invitation for people to come to church. Churches as a whole should make a movement to personally invite people to come to church and stop waiting around for people to just show up at the door. I also think that people should also explore churches in their area and find a church that fits that individual best. Nowhere in the bible does it say that you have to attend the church that your great-great uncles step mom attended in the 1600s. People dont necessarily enjoy change, but this could be an eye opening event for those people who feel stuck in a church theyve attended their whole life, or for people who may be bored or just looking for something new. If people go out and find a church they enjoy attending and that aligns with their personal beliefs and worship values, then they will most likely want to go to church more.

Running head: CHURCH ATTENDANCE

In my opinion, we should stop analyzing the statistics so much, and just look at some real churches, and their church attendances, if we really want to see if church attendance is declining. While it is important for churches to ask is our churches attendance declining? and adjust and make sure that the church is still a welcoming atmosphere, this question shouldnt be the only question that churches are asking. Maybe we should just worry about our churches becoming more welcoming and focus on the reason we attend church. Conclusion: Attending church, is important to some people, because this is their way of life and for some, what they have been doing for their whole lives. For churches, attendance is an important matter because once you have a large base of members, if you do not stay at or above this number, then it will become hard for a church to continue to afford all of the resources that a church provides for its members and the community. While statistics are a beneficial resource for looking at church attendance, it is also helpful to expand the research to ask more questions, and to encompass actual church attendance records rather than what people say when asked. Some suggestions for further research would be for congregations to look into what people want to get out of a church, and what would make them attend more, and use these answers to offer opportunities to those who have never attended church or do not attend anymore. Our society is becoming more advanced and modern every day, and for some people they do not want to stick with the past and continue to worship the same way that their ancestors did, and for this reason, it would also be beneficial to look into ways that worship could accommodate modern advances of the 21st century.

Running head: CHURCH ATTENDANCE REFERENCE LIST Bills, W. (2013, July 23). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://gumchurch.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/how-to-increase-church-attendance/

Blackwell, J. (Producer). (2011, December 29). The Truth about Attendance [Web Video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bKdQJynrZ8 The Christian Broadcasting Network. (Producer). (2008, October 28). Declining Church Attendance: Absurd Religion - CBN.com [Web Video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zNL3ITV-Zo Foster J.N. (2013). Observation Notes for Assignment One on Concordia Lutheran Church [Word Document]. Iannaccone, L. R., & Everton, S. F. (2004). Never on sunny days: Lessons from weekly attendance counts. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 43(2), 191-207. Lowry, L., & Barnes, R. (n.d.). 7 startling facts: An up close look at church attendance in america. Retrieved from http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/139575-7startling-facts-an-up-close-look-at-church-attendance-in-america.html?p=5 Musick, M. A., House, J. S., & Williams, D. A. (2004). Attendance at religious services and mortality in a national sample. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 45(2), 198-213. Newport, F. (2007, April 6). Just why do Americans attend church? Gallup. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/27124/just-why-americans-attend-church.aspx Presser, S., & Chaves, M. (2007). Is religious service attendance declining? Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 46(3), 417-423. Thompson, C. (2013, Septmeber 4). Why is church attendance still declining? Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved from http://community.adn.com/node/163751