Qualifying "seldom attend religious services" -- what about people who are not religious but attend a funeral held in a house of worship? That would surely qualify has having experienced a religious service -- and they could "check the box."
The reason I mention this is that it seems that fewer and fewer people, at least in my area, have religious funeral services. I know this because I read the local obituaries. I love history, especially personal history, and obituaries are those very things. If a funeral were held at a house of worship, this would oblige a nonreligious person to attend a religious service.
I bet Seldom Attenders are the best bets for evangelism. They see some value in church, but don't know much about it and are lazy. A bit of education and love could make a big difference.
You would think so! In my experience so far in life at least-it definitely doesn’t feel that way when you’re out there trying. So many of the people that God’s put in my life would be in the “seldom” category and it’s tough to love and teach them out of it.
Some even will tell me about reading the Bible and praying often-but in the same breath also reject any idea of attending a church any more then they currently do; I even try to be open-ended and tell them it doesn’t need to be “my” church.
Ryan - thanks so much for both the shout-out, the very thoughtful self reflection and the "attitude" information at the end of today's episode. I have to remind myself that the intensity of people's feelings, both positive and negative, to religion tend to be more extreme in the US compared to here in the UK where a cordial ambivalence is the norm.
As someone who until very recently sang in a choir I often found myself in church singing for religious services despite not being a believer myself. I also go to friend's religious wedding, baptism and funeral services. I wonder if there's a way to have more nuanced questions about whether someone is attending a place of worship "on their own spiritual motivation" or because they are going there for a community reason or have been invited for a specific event?
Synagogue may be a little different than the churches. While the finances depend on the religious equivalent of gym memberships in January, people who pay dues to get their Rosh HaShanah tickets each year, a lot of effort goes into planning events that take place during worship times. People of all types attend Bar Mitzvahs, teachers of students, work colleagues of parents irrespective of what their usual chuch attendandce is. That's how atheists don't score zero on the survey, perhaps. There are guest speakers, including our Senator once. People who are nominal members will come their birthday sabbath when names are announced or come for the naming of a neighbor's new daughter. They are not there to worship, but to engage in programming linked to worship. People who despise the concept of religion will still have the civility to maintain good relations with people who are more fully engaged.
It is hard to infuse this reality with a survey question. Somebody consenting to the survey will likely interpret the question as one of worship, not physical presence in a place where worship happens to be part of the program that got them in the sanctuary.
Yes, yes, and more yes. The entire Church Growth Movement is predicated on the same assumption: some would attend church if invited, and would attend more if designed for their non-churchy spirituality. Very important when we talk about inclusive worship today, and I suspect important when addressing your concerns about mainline churches as spiritual country clubs. I suspect expanding our idea of what church can be is important not just to growth and community cohesion but to gospel witness in our current climate.
Love the "baptist pastor in me" comment, Ryan. Perhaps all who have engaged in preaching are prone to hyperbole?...
Another fascinating way to look at how often people get themselves into a place of worship at an expected worship time. This comes from a summary of a recent Carey Niewhof podcast.
Carey is a Canadian pastor who does church development. He found a study from U Chicago, done right before covid. I just have Carey's summary, not the published paper itself. Instead of looking at survey responses, these folks had access to a few million anonymous cell phone location pings. They found that weekly attendance, with a generous definition of what weekly attendance means, was far less than CES and GSS report. Pertinent to never attenders, they found that 75% had been inside a place of worship at least one in the year of cell phone ping data that they tracked. This would be consistent with Ryan's data on never attenders taken from surveys. The denominational distribution is different, so very infrequent attenders are likely going for a special occasion, though phone location data can just tell where people were and not why they were there.
I've long wondered whether one explanation for reduced religious participation lies in the proliferation of denominations. This began long ago with the Reformation, but it hasn't stopped. More demoninations doesn't just mean more to choose from, but may put on people's minds doubts about what to believe. In the face of denominational cacophony, many may become too confused or uncertain and opt out of regular participation.
I agree with the idea of a "denominational cacophoy" but as Ryan Burge has shown denominational churches are dying. It's the plethora of non-denominational churches that might generate confusion.
But as for "reduced religious participation" I was for many years unchurched. I was raised and estranged from Missouri-Synod Lutheranism, and it was many years before I began attending any church regularly. I didn't know where I wanted to attend -- as you alluded to, so many choices -- but I knew where I didn't want to attend. After visiting many congregations -- denominational and non-denominational -- I eventually ended up in a non-denominational community church and have been very happy there the past couple decades.
Great study Ryan. Interesting to say the least.
Qualifying "seldom attend religious services" -- what about people who are not religious but attend a funeral held in a house of worship? That would surely qualify has having experienced a religious service -- and they could "check the box."
The reason I mention this is that it seems that fewer and fewer people, at least in my area, have religious funeral services. I know this because I read the local obituaries. I love history, especially personal history, and obituaries are those very things. If a funeral were held at a house of worship, this would oblige a nonreligious person to attend a religious service.
Loopholes!
I bet Seldom Attenders are the best bets for evangelism. They see some value in church, but don't know much about it and are lazy. A bit of education and love could make a big difference.
You would think so! In my experience so far in life at least-it definitely doesn’t feel that way when you’re out there trying. So many of the people that God’s put in my life would be in the “seldom” category and it’s tough to love and teach them out of it.
Some even will tell me about reading the Bible and praying often-but in the same breath also reject any idea of attending a church any more then they currently do; I even try to be open-ended and tell them it doesn’t need to be “my” church.
In my world, we call this saying, “I’m not that Jewish.” =)
Ryan - thanks so much for both the shout-out, the very thoughtful self reflection and the "attitude" information at the end of today's episode. I have to remind myself that the intensity of people's feelings, both positive and negative, to religion tend to be more extreme in the US compared to here in the UK where a cordial ambivalence is the norm.
As someone who until very recently sang in a choir I often found myself in church singing for religious services despite not being a believer myself. I also go to friend's religious wedding, baptism and funeral services. I wonder if there's a way to have more nuanced questions about whether someone is attending a place of worship "on their own spiritual motivation" or because they are going there for a community reason or have been invited for a specific event?
I read this fascinating post and wonder if there is any data about religious involvement in birth, death and marriage rites of passage.
Synagogue may be a little different than the churches. While the finances depend on the religious equivalent of gym memberships in January, people who pay dues to get their Rosh HaShanah tickets each year, a lot of effort goes into planning events that take place during worship times. People of all types attend Bar Mitzvahs, teachers of students, work colleagues of parents irrespective of what their usual chuch attendandce is. That's how atheists don't score zero on the survey, perhaps. There are guest speakers, including our Senator once. People who are nominal members will come their birthday sabbath when names are announced or come for the naming of a neighbor's new daughter. They are not there to worship, but to engage in programming linked to worship. People who despise the concept of religion will still have the civility to maintain good relations with people who are more fully engaged.
It is hard to infuse this reality with a survey question. Somebody consenting to the survey will likely interpret the question as one of worship, not physical presence in a place where worship happens to be part of the program that got them in the sanctuary.
Yes, yes, and more yes. The entire Church Growth Movement is predicated on the same assumption: some would attend church if invited, and would attend more if designed for their non-churchy spirituality. Very important when we talk about inclusive worship today, and I suspect important when addressing your concerns about mainline churches as spiritual country clubs. I suspect expanding our idea of what church can be is important not just to growth and community cohesion but to gospel witness in our current climate.
Love the "baptist pastor in me" comment, Ryan. Perhaps all who have engaged in preaching are prone to hyperbole?...
One can be a practicing Buddhist without going to a Buddhist temple more than a few times a year. Most of the prayers can be done at home
Another fascinating way to look at how often people get themselves into a place of worship at an expected worship time. This comes from a summary of a recent Carey Niewhof podcast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if9nSMbUF1s
Carey is a Canadian pastor who does church development. He found a study from U Chicago, done right before covid. I just have Carey's summary, not the published paper itself. Instead of looking at survey responses, these folks had access to a few million anonymous cell phone location pings. They found that weekly attendance, with a generous definition of what weekly attendance means, was far less than CES and GSS report. Pertinent to never attenders, they found that 75% had been inside a place of worship at least one in the year of cell phone ping data that they tracked. This would be consistent with Ryan's data on never attenders taken from surveys. The denominational distribution is different, so very infrequent attenders are likely going for a special occasion, though phone location data can just tell where people were and not why they were there.
I've long wondered whether one explanation for reduced religious participation lies in the proliferation of denominations. This began long ago with the Reformation, but it hasn't stopped. More demoninations doesn't just mean more to choose from, but may put on people's minds doubts about what to believe. In the face of denominational cacophony, many may become too confused or uncertain and opt out of regular participation.
I agree with the idea of a "denominational cacophoy" but as Ryan Burge has shown denominational churches are dying. It's the plethora of non-denominational churches that might generate confusion.
But as for "reduced religious participation" I was for many years unchurched. I was raised and estranged from Missouri-Synod Lutheranism, and it was many years before I began attending any church regularly. I didn't know where I wanted to attend -- as you alluded to, so many choices -- but I knew where I didn't want to attend. After visiting many congregations -- denominational and non-denominational -- I eventually ended up in a non-denominational community church and have been very happy there the past couple decades.