Hartford Seminary
recently published its latest research findings from a longitudinal study of
U.S. congregations (FaithCommunitiesToday.org). In Hartford’s report on church
growth, research director David Roozen writes, “…in today’s world growth and
decline are primarily dependent upon a congregation’s internal culture, program and leadership, and therefore a
congregation’s ability to change and adapt” (emphasis added). In other words,
if a congregation is willing to change, it can grow.
Change for change sake, however, is NEVER the answer.
So, what did Hartford Seminary’s researchers discover?
Among the most interesting findings included:
1. There
is a clear correlation between growth and the sense that a congregation is
spiritually vital and alive along with a clear mission and purpose.
2. Where
a worship service is considered joyful, a congregation is more likely to
experience substantial growth. And congregations that involve children in
worship were more likely to experience substantial growth.
3. Growth
in predominantly white congregations is less likely, in part because this
population has zero growth demographically. The members tend to be older as
well and less likely to have contemporary worship services.
4. Congregations
whose members are heavily involved in recruiting new people have a definite
growth advantage, as do congregations that use multiple methods to make
follow-up contacts with visitors, that regularly invest in special events or
programs to attract people from the community, and whose senior clergy spent
priority time in evangelism and recruitment.
5. Congregations
that saw themselves as not that different from other congregations in their
area tended to decline.
I
find most interesting points 1 and 5, as they are the photographic negative
images of one another. In background paragraphs that discuss key findings,
Roozen comments that a statistically significant majority of growing
congregations have a strong sense of personal identity and uniqueness; that is,
they can individually and corporately tell you who they are! This ability to
speak identity is compelling and winsome when discussing one’s church with
friends, colleagues and neighbors. This ability to speak identity creates
clarity of mission, which in turn fuels passion. My takeaway from this research
is that congregations will always benefit from knowing who they are and whose
they are, will be blessed by embracing their sense of call from the Christ who
has embraced them and calls them to be a blessing.
Thoughts
for the season of ordinations and installations,
