Coordinator of Public Information: Patsi Barnes Trollinger, 606-238-5719, [email protected]
Oct. 1, 1998
Advice for Declining Church Congregations: To Attract More Members, Get Strict
DANVILLE, KY -- In a series of recent lectures delivered in Indiana and Kentucky, a Centre College professor has given some surprising news for church congregations suffering a decline in membership. These congregations aren't likely to reverse their fortunes by making things easy for new members, according to William "Beau" J. Weston, associate professor of sociology. In fact, the opposite is true. "Churches that are growing are strict," says Weston, "while churches that have tried to please their members are declining. It's a trend that started at least two decades ago and has continued to gain momentum."
Weston recently spoke on this theme at a United Methodist church in Evansville, Ind., and he will continue a two-part series this weekend at First Presbyterian Church in Lexington.
An active Presbyterian, Weston became intrigued about six years ago with the steady growth of conservative churches and the paralleling decline of many liberal churches. Curious about the fundamental reasons behind this trend, Weston began looking past the numbers to scrutinize examples of growing and declining churches. He found a phenomenon that cut across the usual boundaries of conservative and liberal theology, as well as mainline denominations and independent religious groups.
"The main thing people want from religious institutions today is religion," says Weston. "People who seek out a church want something that transcends everyday life. Churches that try too hard to offer a religious experience that is refined and reasonable will keep losing people to the even more reasonable pleasures of the newspaper, the golf course, and the warm bed."
If Weston's conclusion sounds like plain common sense, consider the recent history of America's mainline denominations. Virtually all of them, including United Methodists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians, began losing members back in the 1970s. For most of them, the first response was an attempt to woo back old members and appeal to new members by setting less demanding standards for church members and officers.
"The lower expectations were expressed in several ways," says Weston. "Fewer church services each week. Less pressure on members to tithe their income. Fewer restrictions about work and play on the Sabbath. Less talk about sin and personal responsibility."
In the beginning, the approach might have kept a few members in the fold, but over the long run the concept backfired. "At a certain point," says Weston, "people began to wonder what was the point of going to church if it was no different from the rest of the world."
In contrast, there was definite growth among churches that promised a religious life decidedly different -- and more difficult -- than the ways of the world.
Weston says the contrast was at first attributed to a church's stance on social issues. When a pioneering scholar, Dean Kelley of the National Council of Churches, offered a different explanation, he was criticized. "Kelley published a book in the early 1970s, and despite the title -- Why Conservative Churches are Growing -- he said the real issue is the degree of strictness in an individual congregation, not the conservativism. His work was considered controversial and his views remained in the minority for a long time."
Now, Weston's research and that of other scholars, bears out the theory. "If you dig deep enough," says Weston, "you will find liberal congregations that are thriving and conservative congregations that are declining. The core issue is how strict the church is. How much does it expect of its members? Does it stress the fact that religious life must be different from the world?"
The most famous example of a "strict liberal church," according to Weston, is The Church of the Savior. This congregation is based in a deteriorating Washington, D.C., neighborhood, and has an aggressive program of community service and outreach. The congregation is actively involved in local and national politics with a stance that might be labeled liberal, yet the church sets forth very high expectations of its members in terms of giving, community service and personal behavior.
Weston knows of other strict liberal congregations, but he admits they are uncommon. And it would be very difficult to sustain an entire strict liberal denomination. "Liberals find it hard to be strict," he says. "For conservatives, being strict seems to come naturally. Even so, the research shows that church membership patterns do not come down solely to a conservative vs. liberal issue."
What else has Weston concluded from his studies? At a grassroots level, America has grown increasingly religious since the days of its founding -- not increasingly secular. "The percent of the U.S. population actively participating in religious institutions has risen enormously, from about ten percent in colonial times to about sixty percent now. In Europe, by contrast, the percent of the population regularly attending church has been in the single digits. The European experience has suggested to some that the modern world is becoming more secular. The evidence from the United States -- and most of the rest of the world -- suggests the opposite."
So why do we read so much about the trend toward secularism? Weston has an explanation: "Nowadays history is likely to be written and interpreted by the only group to have become less religious recently: the highly educated. This elite can believe in secularization because it seems true to their experience, whereas they don't feel firsthand the quite different experience of the majority of Americans."
Weston says the trend toward active religious participation may be further fueled by Generation X, the generation after the baby boomers. "Generation X has thus far been even more anti-institutional than the Boomers. But like so-called 'lost' generations before them, the Generation Xers may settle down, after a wild youth, to become the most conservative generation of the century. This could bode well for conservative churches."
- end -
Contact: Beau Weston at 606-238-5256 Note: Weston also has upcoming addresses and a new scholarly article about doomsday cults and the coming millennium.
RSS