I
imagine we’ve all experienced it. The faithful, committed, often
deeply-involved members, who are attending with increasing irregularity. They
haven’t left church. They aren’t mad or
boycotting. They’re just not present as often.
The
good news: it’s not unique to your community of faith! The hard news: there are lots of reasons. And
like many of the things that impact a congregation they are not all in our
control. Some experts put the figure as
high as 80% -- the number of factors that impact a congregation over which the
congregation has no influence. I’m not making attendance into a golden calf
here. But it is a symptom of a change that we need to be attentive to.
While
it is not universally the case, greater affluence (or tolerance for higher
levels of indebtedness) is a reality in many communities. That provides
options as well as raising huge theological and ministry questions. But
increased affluence, combined with a dramatically diminished societal emphasis
on church attendance, allows for a range of choices.
Most
ministry personnel are familiar with impact of a greater focus on children’s
activities. More children are
involved in sporting and cultural activities (that’s a good thing). That
increasingly involves travel on the weekends. Given the increased levels of
commercial opening of Sunday combined with the force of peer pressure, a lot of
families spend a lot of weekends on the road. That simply increases the larger number
of people travelling
Changing
family demographics are a huge factor. With a single parent or shared
custody, attendance patterns shift. If
you still maintain a church school curriculum that assumes weekly attendance
you may want to look at the participants.
“Perfect attendance” might well be twenty-six Sundays. As Sunday retail continues to spread, the
sole breadwinner in a single-parent family may be unable to arrange childcare
that will bring the children. Or, since
single-parent families are more likely to struggle financially, they may not
have reliable transportation available to attend church. Does your church make
a point of connecting those who are willing to share transportation with those
who need it? Single parents and blended families are welcome in most
congregations I know – that doesn’t always extend to awareness of the
challenges to their participation.
For
those inclined to appreciate them, the multitude of online or television
options can have an impact. That effect can be seen in everything from
differing theologies, through worship styles and production values. It’s hard
for the volunteers on the local church soundboard to compete with the technical
expertise of the employees of a online ministry! The online preacher who is free of the
pastoral, educational and administrative duties of the local parish pastor (and
who also has a research team) may seem bright and shiny. Of course, the online
preacher will never be at your hospital bedside in a crisis, but the online
church is here to stay regardless of our participation.
There
is a power to habit and, dare I say it, guilt! Since I moved from congregational ministry
with its weekly rhythm of worship, I understand far more clearly how much of
regular attendance is habit. As a habit, you get up on Sunday morning and you
know, at an almost instinctive level, where you are going. It is an unusual action to plan something else
in that period of the week. For those who worry about such things, it is still
very much a free choice, but not one with which you regularly wrestle. It is an
easy habit to fall out of. Which is one reason why churches need to do a
better job of following up quickly when
someone is missing from worship. Not in the mode of a truant officer but to
say, “You were missed. Hope all is well.” When I was growing up there was a
certain amount of guilt around nonattendance on Sunday. Our family did it, but
there was always the feeling of having to explain – even justify – our absence.
Today, there is little guilt around choosing otherwise on Sunday. Habit and
guilt no longer function to encourage regular attendance.
Surveys
repeatedly tell us that people are searching spiritually. For a variety
of reasons, however, they don’t always look to the church as a resource in that
search. So, people have lower expectation that churches and clergy will help
them grow in that way and so seek other possibilities. The Internet allows us
to research everything (even though the quality of the answers can vary wildly).
We research health, vehicles, travel – why not spirituality and religion? More
and more people are opting to craft their own spiritual menus, with strikingly
mixed results. Add to that the popular
perception of the church as an “institution” and our cultural suspicion of
institutions in general and the modern mind moves away from attendance as a
resource for spiritual growth.
We’re
all familiar with the truth that when someone says, “I don’t have time for
that,” what they are really saying is “I choose not to make time for it.”
We’ve all had the experience of an extremely busy week in which we find time
for people or pastimes that we value. If we value it, we have time for it. If
we’re not making time for church participation that itself is a statement. Then
we combine that with our society’s obsession with immediate results and we have
another reason why attendance is less regular – even for those who love the
church. Genuine Christian discipleship rarely yields immediate results. The
question leaders need to ask is whether or not, in our church, that’s because
we aren’t providing value; or because it takes time, patience and experiencing
walking with God to realize that value? Are there ways through which we can –
with integrity – help people to recognize the value they are receiving?
Church
traditions that count membership over attendance face a particular
struggle in our day. As you’ve probably realized, a generational shift has
resulted in an entirely different attitude towards joining. The post- World War Two generation, that in
large measure created the physical and psychological infrastructure of the
mainline church, established identity through membership. Had you asked
my parents about their identity they would have mentioned the church they
belonged to, the fraternal order that they belonged to, the groups they
belonged to, and so on. See the commonality? Joining equals identity. Today,
many people are establishing membership by participation. They will tell you
that their church is the one where they participate. Fair enough: most of us
know plenty of people who are on the list but not involved. I’d rather have
people involved. But when we haven’t committed (in the form of actually joining
ourselves to something) it becomes easier to not participate. What can we do?
Well, we can try and buck the societal trend. How did that work out for you the
last time you tried it? Or, you can consciously begin to emphasize participation
and engagement. (Here’s a thought: instead of (or along with) counting bums in
pews, is there a way to count the number of people your church touches in a
week? Particularly if they come to your church building for a program, they may
think of it as “their church.” Can you consider them “your people”?) Depending on your denominational traditions
and rules your options may be more or less limited, but please think about it.
And think about helping other leaders to understand a societal trend that they
may have dismissed as simply lack of commitment.
So,
we’re living through a huge cultural change.
You really needed me to point that out, didn’t you?! But the change has
not yet settled into a “new normal”. Or,
perhaps, the new normal is constant flux. That means that you – whoever you
are, whatever your role or title – are positioned to be the authority on what
works in your context. Don’t be afraid to recognize the change and to try new
things.
©2020 I Ross Bartlett
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