wfn.org | PC(USA) Researchers Land Grant for Study of Christian Congregations

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6-April-1999 
99139 
 
    PC(USA) Researchers Land $1.3 Million Grant 
    for 4-Year Study of Christian Congregations 
 
    by Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Researchers will survey more than 300,000 Christians from 
about 6,500 congregations in the next few years to get the most 
comprehensive statistical picture of U.S. churchgoers ever. 
 
    The Congregational Life Survey, to be coordinated by the Research 
Services Department of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), will also try to 
discover what makes some parishes more vital than others. 
 
    The $1.3 million study will be funded by the Lilly Endowment Inc., 
whose headquarters is in Indianapolis. 
 
    About 575 PC(USA) congregations will be chosen randomly to be included 
in the study, which will provide raw data that researchers will use to test 
models of congregational life based on the opinions of churchgoers rather 
than those of church professionals - regarding mission, beliefs, leadership 
style and future directions. 
 
    The data will also be used to compare congregational attitudes and 
experiences across denominations on issues such as leaving or joining a 
church and depth of denominational loyalty. 
 
    Finally, comparisons will be made between churches in New Zealand, 
Australia and Great Britain (where other researchers are conducting 
simultaneous surveys) and U.S. congregations ranging from very mainline, 
such as PC(USA) and the United Methodist Church, to the not-so-mainstream, 
such as the Mormons and the Church of the Nazarenes. 
 
     Participating congregations will benefit by getting profiles of 
themselves as compared to other PC(USA) congregations and other mainline 
churches, and resources to help them interpret the national and 
international data. 
 
    "We have some sense of what are some vital signs of a congregation," 
said Cynthia Woolever, a sociologist who is heading up the project. 
"There's a lot of wisdom out there about congregations, but it is ... 
untested. Most of it is based on field experience, or even one person's 
experience. 
 
    "Now, I'm not saying that's invalid - but there is no national picture 
of all congregations." 
 
    Researchers say information about U.S. congregations is essential to 
understand the people in the pews and how they and their churches affect 
the larger society. 
 
    Several other major studies of congregations are under way now. One, 
led by Carl Dudley and David Roozen of Hartford Seminary, is gathering data 
from members of more than 40 religious organizations to assess the 
character U.S. religious life at the dawn of a new millennium. Another, by 
Mark Chaves of the University of Arizona, will gather data from a smaller 
sampling of religious groups. In both of these studies, researchers rely on 
the views of one person from each setting - what researchers call a "key 
informant." 
 
    The PC(USA)-led study will randomly collect the views of a multitude of 
people belonging to thousands of congregations. 
 
    "We're taking a look at ground-level groups," said Dudley, who is one 
of the deans of congregational study, having been at it for 20 years. While 
the media focus on denominational structures as representative of churches, 
he said, sociologists are more interested in the "little groups," or 
congregations, where faith is shared and taught and expressed over time. 
"There's something that's been going on there for a long time, and we ought 
to pay attention to it," Dudley said. 
 
    Research findings ought to be useful to church insiders and outsiders 
alike, the researchers say. Analysis of data from all the current studies 
will document how congregations do social-service work, how they relate to 
other organizations, where they fit in denominational structures. It also 
will show what happens in worship - in preaching, music and participation. 
Data showing what churches do and think is of interest to academics who 
study religious organizations and their relations with communities, 
governments and denominations. 
 
    Moreover, the information may be especially useful to pastors and lay 
people looking for new ways to do ministry in changing circumstances. 
Often, an outsider can see an organization more clearly than an insider 
can. "Pastors and lay persons get a snapshot of their congregations' 
priorities, interests and values ... that they may not be so aware of," 
said Chaves, who grew up in a PC(USA) congregation pastored by his father. 
"These are things that do not always come up in day-to-day activities. It 
is a way to get feedback." 
 
    The Congregational Life Survey will collect four types of data: 
information about congregations; information about communities; information 
about the relationships between congregations and communities; and 
information about specific denominations. 
 
    Survey forms will be distributed during worship in April, 2001. 
 
    Questions will be aimed at assessing how congregations help people grow 
in faith and how they are involved in their communities through outreach 
and social action. 
 
    After years of working in congregational development, the Rev. Ken 
Byerly, the associate executive presbyter of the Baltimore Presbytery, is a 
believer in the value of self-examination. 
 
     "In the Baltimore Presbytery, we have 72 congregations," he told the 
Presbyterian News Service, "and in the last four or five years, 52 of those 
have begun six-month study processes - finding out what their members 
think, taking inventories, finding out what their communities think, using 
demographic data. And every time a congregation takes the time to ask 
people to think, and to ask the community what it thinks, it has amazing 
results. 
 
    "They can compare the two [sets of opinions] and discuss them. They can 
say, `God put us here for a reason.'It may not be the same reason the 
founding fathers and mothers had 100 years ago, but there is still a 
reason." 
 
    "We have some sense of what are signs of congregational vitality," said 
Woolever. "Are younger families the only way to be vital? How important are 
small groups? Does it really make a difference what percentage of your 
members are from (ages) 25 to 44? ... 
 
    "What we're really talking about here is mission," she said, "and a 
church that is accomplishing mission is a vital congregation. There are 
some universals about what it means to be a church, and then there are some 
specifics - like what it means to be the church at Fourth and Main. 
Churches have to look at both." 
 
    Researchers expect to produce a report of their findings in the fall of 
2001, though resources will be developed through 2002. 

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