wfn.org | Survey finds high rate of turnover in the pews

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #7018 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

17-January-2002
02028

Survey finds high rate of turnover in the pews

Many U.S. worshippers "comparison-shop" for congregations

by Evan Silverstein

MESA, AZ - Nearly one-third of all worshippers in the United States have changed congregations in the past five years.

This high level of "turnover" is among the key findings of the largest survey ever conducted of U.S. worshippers. The U.S. Congregational Life Survey questioned a random national sample of 350,000 people attending churches and other religious institutions; participants represented about 2,000 congregations in 50 denominations and faith groups.

Among the other findings: women attend worship services more often than men; nearly 40 percent of all attendees have college degrees; worshippers are more likely to turn out to vote; and people who worship regularly typically make good neighbors.

The survey, conducted at a cost of $1.3 million, is part of a project designed to produce the first truly comprehensive statistical portrait of U.S. worshippers and congregations. It was funded jointly by the Lilly Endowment and the Louisville Institute and supported by the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Worshippers completed survey questionnaires last April. Similar surveys were conducted at roughly the same time in England, Australia and New Zealand. The four-nation study involved about 1.2 million worshippers from more than 100 denominations and about 12,000 congregations. 

The survey, whose planning and execution took three years, was described as "the biggest religious survey on the planet" by PC(USA) officials who announced some preliminary survey results on Jan. 12 during the denomination's Sixth National Churchwide Redevelopment Conference here (see related story). 

The researchers hope the survey findings will help congregations find ways of renewing and enriching their congregations.

Questionnaires were filled out during services at participating congregations - including Catholics, Jews, Mormons, Methodists, Lutherans and Unitarians - in all 50 states. 

"We don't want to give you the impression that all the findings were positive, or that we're looking at the data with blinders on, or rose-colored glasses," said Deborah Bruce, project manager for U.S. Congregations, a Louisville-based ecumenical research group that managed the survey. "There are challenges that congregations face."

Bruce and Cynthia Woolever, U.S. Congregations' director, flashed slides of cartoons and bar graphs across a movie screen during a lighthearted but informative presentation on the survey's findings. Bruce and Woolever are also staff members in the PC(USA)'s Research Services office.

The survey found that 83 percent of the people in the pews attend services regularly, nearly every week. Beyond weekly worship, however, participation is less regular. Fewer than half of churchgoers (38 percent) are involved with small groups in such activities as Sunday school, prayer, Bible study, discussion and social groups. Participation in small groups was considerably higher among Presbyterians (63 percent).

"It's not quite so bad overall for Presbyterians, but there's still lots of room for growth," Bruce said, adding: "Worship is the primary spot where people are connecting with their congregations. It is where they come to be spiritually fed."

There are more women (61 percent) than men (39 percent) in the pews across all age categories, the survey found. That women live longer than men accounts for only part of the gender difference in religious participation, Bruce said.

The survey found new members of congregations (those who joined in the past five years) come largely from four faith backgrounds: 7 percent are "first-timers," people who have never regularly attended services anywhere; 18 percent are "returnees," who once belonged to a community of faith and are coming back; 18 percent are "switchers," people moving from one denomination or faith group to another; and by far the largest group, 57 percent of all newcomers, are "transfers," worshippers who changed congregations within the same denomination.

 The survey found that faith groups and individual congregations vary in attracting new members. Catholics have fewer "switchers" than Protestants. None of the faith groups does particularly well with "first-timers."

The average worshipper is well-educated; 38 percent have college degrees, compared to 23 percent of the U.S. population. The education level was higher than average for religious people in all four countries surveyed. 

"This finding adds further evidence to what social scientists had observed about religious involvement for several decades now," Woolever said, "that the values and behaviors promoted by religious institutions like churches contribute to upward social mobility." 

Woolever said the stereotype of "Ward and June and Wally and Beaver" families filling up the pews is way off the mark. The survey found that large percentages of people in the pews either have never married or are divorced or separated. She said married couples with children are the "minority profile" in congregations, which she said "mirrors the U.S. population." 

Regular worshippers tend to make good neighbors; half of all those surveyed said they had prepared or given food to someone outside their family or congregation during the past year. Thirty-eight percent said they donated money to charitable organizations (other than their own congregations), while more than one in four (29 percent) said they had lent money to someone outside their family. 

Twenty-two percent of participants said they helped a non-family-member find a job, and more than 20 percent said they had cared for someone outside their family who was very sick.

Seventy-two percent said they'd voted in the November 2000 election, compared to 50 percent of eligible voters. Twenty percent had worked with others during the past year in trying to solve a community problem, and 18 percent had contacted an elected official about a public issue. 

The main purpose of the project was to take a "snapshot" of the religious landscape at the start of a new millennium.

More specifically, planners hoped to be able to help congregations understand themselves better, assess their ministries and relate more productively with their communities; to create a database that will enable congregations to measure themselves against denominational, national and international benchmarks; and to help guide church leaders and planners.

Every congregation that participated will receive two free reports summarizing the findings and comparing their own responses to those of worshippers across the country, and a video to help them find ways to make use of the information.

For more information, visit the survey Web site: www.uscongregations.org. 
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