wfn.org | Church of Christ Congregations Double Between '45 and '65

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For further information, contact:
David Barrett, director of public and institutional affairs
Hartford Seminary
77 Sherman Street
Hartford CT 06105
Tel: 860-509-9519
Email: FACT-Info@hartsem.edu
Web: http://fact.hartsem.edu

or

Thomas L. Winter
Email:  wintert@acu.edu;

Douglas A. Foster
Email: foster@bible.acu.edu.

HARTFORD, March 21, 2001--The Churches of Christ, a 1.3 million member
religious organization that was born in the United States in the 19th
century, participated in the Faith Communities Today study that was released
here last week.

	Faith Communities Today is supported by the religious organizations
participating and by the Lilly Endowment. It is directed by Professors Carl
Dudley and David Roozen of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, a
part of the Hartford Seminary.

     Following are the "findings and insights" that this group has reported
in the context of the most inclusive and comprehensive research ever conducted
on American congregations:

Introduction

     Churches of Christ are one of three groups that emerged from the
American Restoration Movement led by Thomas and Alexander Campbell and 
Barton W.
Stone in the early and middle years of the 19th century.  Membership in 
Churches
of Christ in the United States today is estimated at 1.3 million by church
statistician Mac Lynn (2000).  The 1990 Glenmary Research Institute report
estimated the number of adherents in the United States at 1.7 million, with
congregations in nearly 2,400 counties across the nation.

      The Atlas of American Religion (2000) identifies Churches of Christ as
one of seven "national denominations", based on what the authors describe as
"cultural normativeness, organizational size, spatial extent, and spatial
dispersion" (p. 58).

     Churches of Christ were first recognized as a body independent from the
Disciples of Christ in the 1906 Religious Census conducted by the United
States Department of Commerce.  Among issues in the separation were the
group's rejection of instrumental music in worship and the organization of
missionary societies to administer evangelism.  Churches of Christ continue
to use only a cappella music in worship and are fiercely congregational,
with no official governing bodies or societies.

     In the mid-twentieth century another group of Christian Churches
separated from the Disciples of Christ, forming the three bodies that exist
today as heirs of the Stone-Campbell movement.

     The Churches of Christ are one of 41 religious organizations nationwide
who participated in the national study being released today by Faith
Communities Today, or FACT.  Researchers from the religious groups developed
a common questionnaire to gather comparable data from local churches,
synagogues and mosques.  The findings represent 90 percent of all who
worship regularly in the United States.

     Findings about the Churches of Christ are based on replies from nearly
300 congregations who responded to the survey during 2000.  Two professors
led the portion of the project relating to Churches of Christ.  Thomas L.
Winter, associate provost at Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas,
served on the FACT project's Steering Committee and Research Committee.
Douglas A. Foster, director of the Center for Restoration Studies at ACU,
was involved in developing materials for congregational use and planning 
ways to
use the study's results in universities and seminaries.

     Each religious group participating in the FACT study provided matching
funds for its part of the study. The College of Biblical Studies at Abilene
Christian University provided the matching funds for the survey of Churches
of Christ.

FACT findings and pertinent information about Churches of Christ :

-- Demographics of our Congregations:

Churches of Christ, like most American religious groups, have many
congregations that are relatively small (with fewer than 100 regularly
participating adults).

-  Most of our congregations have fewer than 65 regularly participating
adults, 30 regularly participating children and teens (95 total).

-  Most of our members, however, are in churches with over 200 regularly
participating adults.

-  A third of our members are in churches with 350 or more regularly
participating adults.

Consistent with the observations of the authors of the Atlas of American
Religion, our congregations are geographically distributed like other
"national" Christian groups.

-  Like "liberal Protestant" and "evangelical Protestant" groups,
particularly those that are also categorized as "national" Christian groups
(Presbyterian Church/USA, Assemblies of God, and Southern Baptist Convention
congregations), a majority of our congregations are located in small towns
or rural settings.

-  However, more of our congregations are located in cities and non-rural
settings than many "moderate Protestant" groups (for example, the United
Methodist , Evangelical Lutheran, Mennonite, and Disciples of Christ).

The FACT survey also suggests the following about our congregations:

-  Most of our congregations have relatively recent origins (since World War
II).

-  The number of our congregations nearly doubled between 1945 and 1965.

-  Growth of new congregations slowed between 1965 - 1990.

-  We have started fewer congregations in the past decade than other
religious groups as a whole.

-  Still, as a movement, we are "younger" than U.S. congregations as a
whole.

The FACT survey has also provided a picture of the religious backgrounds of
our members. We have learned several important things, such as:

-  While about 1/3 of our congregations report "few" of their adult members
have lifelong connections with Churches of Christ, about the same number
report "most" are lifelong members.

-  Churches of Christ have significantly more members who have lifelong
connections with our fellowship than many other groups.

-  The vast majority of our congregations report that they have few new
members in the past five years; this is especially true of our smallest
congregations (those with fewer than 100 regularly participating adults on
an average Sunday).

As we have examined what the study reveals about growth in our
congregations, we are both challenged and affirmed.

-  Most of our congregations are growing or stable over the past five years.

-  We have about the same proportion of growing churches as U.S.
congregations as a whole, but have slightly more "stable" churches than the
total population of congregations.

-  Growth is stronger in older congregations than in newer congregations.

-  Growth is strongest in small towns and mid-sized cities, and weakest in
rural areas and major metropolitan areas.

- Worship and Change in Churches of Christ

The FACT study reinforces the conservative nature of our fellowship,
particularly with regard to worship activities and change. Leaders of our
congregations provide the following picture of worship in our churches:

- A majority of our congregations say that their worship hasn't changed in
the past five years.

-  Among those that report change in worship during that period, most
describe the change as slight; only about one in twenty of our churches
describe the worship change as "significant."

-  Worship change is greatest in larger congregations, least in smallest
churches.

While this study revealed a tendency of larger, urban and suburban churches
to engage in more diverse worship experiences than small, rural churches, we

have learned that there is little relationship between worship change and
congregational growth. For example:

-  Churches that use visual projection, drama, special music and/or praise
teams are not growing faster than those that don't.

-  Historically, music in Churches of Christ is a cappella, and use of
instruments has been rejected by our congregations.  Although the number of
congregations that report having used instrumental accompaniment is very
small, these churches are significantly less likely to have grown than those
that have not.

-- Congregational Identity

     The ethos of congregations of Churches of Christ, based on the FACT
survey, is one where congregations report a strong sense of:

-  family feeling
-  spiritual vitality
-  worship that deepens spiritual relationships
-  identity with our movement
-  moral witness in their communities
-  ability to incorporate new members
-  uplifting worship
-  programming that builds the congregation

At the same time, the study revealed an absence of certain things among our
congregations. These include such things as:

-  A sense of responsibility for social justice in society.
-  Desire to increase the ethnic diversity of the congregation.
-  Openness to change.
-  Openness in dealing with conflict.
-  A sense of having well-organized programs and activities.

Predictably, the size of congregations was an important qualifier for many
of these characteristics:

-  Congregations with fewer than 350 regular adult participants report a
stronger sense of family than do larger congregations.

-  Congregations with more than 100 regular adult participants have a
stronger sense of congregational vitality than small churches.

-  Small churches (those with fewer than 100 adult participants) have a
significantly more pessimistic view of their futures than do larger churches
(those over 100 participants).

-  Satisfaction with the effectiveness of program organization is a function
of size, with larger congregations more satisfied than small ones.

There is a stronger sense of group loyalty among Churches of Christ than
that found in the FACT survey as a whole; our congregations are more likely to
clearly identify with other Churches of Christ than other groups do with
their fellowships. However, we found that congregations with 100-349 adult
members are less identified with our historical roots than either smaller
(churches of less than 100) or larger churches (those over 350).

There is significantly more information in the study than that presented
here, and it is anticipated that researchers in Churches of Christ will use
the data extensively to increase our understanding of the life and vitality
of our congregations.

How Congregations of Churches of Christ will use FACT data:

The information gathered in the FACT study will be used to help
congregations of Churches of Christ gain insight into themselves and their 
congregations
and to aid in planning and development for the future.

Presentations to show congregational leaders how to use the FACT data were
initiated at the February, 2001, Abilene Christian University Lectures, and
will be made available over the next two years at other major events
involving Churches of Christ, including lectureships and workshops.

Thomas L. Winter and Douglas A. Foster anticipate compiling the FACT
findings about Churches of Christ into a book to be published for use by
congregations and as a historical record of this landmark study.

Additional Information:

A listing of the congregations of Churches of Christ with membership figures
and other data is published in Churches of Christ in the United States, 2000
edition, edited by Mac Lynn. It is available from 21st Century Christian
bookstore, (800) 251-2477

The Christian Chronicle, the international newspaper for members of Churches
of Christ:

         Online edition: www.christianchronicle.org
Comprehensive report on the FACT study:
http://christianchronicle.org/0102/p17a1.asp

Works Cited :

Lynn, M. (2000). Churches of Christ in the United States,
2000. Nashville, Tenn.: 21st Century Christian Publications.

Newman, W. M. & Halvorson, P. L. (2000). Atlas of American Religion: The
denominational era, 1776-1990. Walnut Creek, Calif.: Altamira Press.