wfn.org | Disciples congregations take part in massive study of

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congregations
Date: March 12, 2001
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Clifford L. Willis
E-mail: CWillis@oc.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

01a-17

	INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- The results of the largest survey of
religious congregations ever conducted in the United States were
released March 13 in New York.  283 congregations of the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) are represented in Faith
Communities Today (FACT), a Report on Religion in the United
States Today.  In all, 14,301 Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Mormon
and Baha'i local communities of worship representing 41 faith
traditions participated in the project, which progressed over
the last four years from discussion through surveying to the
publication of findings.  

	In addition to providing a wealth of research data, Faith
Communities Today provides congregations with a valuable new
tool for self-reflection and evaluation.  The project's
Interactive Workbook is a guide for pastors and lay leaders to
discuss the health of the congregation in five areas: public
worship, spiritual growth, inviting and including, community
outreach and managing and leading.  "I think the workbook has
the power to stimulate honest discussion about a congregation's
mission and vitality," said the Rev. Bruce Fowlkes, key FACT
educator for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  

	The workbook proposes such questions as: 

	* What are we saying about God in our worship?
	* How does our worship reach out to others?
	* Do we reach out across racial/ethnic diversity? 
	* Are we gaining or losing membership?
	* What is our capacity for vision, innovation and change?"

	Having discussed those and other questions, a congregation can
compare its profile to other Disciples congregations,
congregations of other Protestant, Catholic or Orthodox
traditions, to local communities of other religious faiths or to
all of the congregations involved in the research.  The
Interactive Workbook is available to the public on the World
Wide Web at http://fact.hartsem.edu. 

	The FACT report is full of data, and detailed graphs and
charts, but also offers summaries, which include findings that:
50 percent of congregations report they are growing; most
congregations report that they welcome change; changes in
worship often prompt serious congregational conflict; faith
communities gain identity from a common heritage and culture;
growth, change and conflict are interrelated; worship is the
foundational activity among congregations; outreach programs by
which congregations express their faith in action are high
priorities; overall, the physical condition of congregational
buildings is more solid than troubled; and most clergy (89
percent) are paid.

	"While many of these findings are not surprising, they do
provide hard data on many of our suspicions, both positive and
negative, about the state of mainline Protestant churches," said
Fowlkes.  "What we do with these findings, namely recognizing
the strong correlation between change, growth and vitality, is a
key to strengthening Disciples congregations for mission," he
said.  Fowlkes will lead an interest group on FACT and using the
Interactive Workbook and FACT data at the General Synod/Assembly
in Kansas City in July. 

	Research data on Disciples congregations are in usable form now
via the Interactive Workbook on the FACT website.  Researchers
interested in the complete results of the surveys of Disciples
congregations can obtain that information from the Office of
Research in the Office of General Minister and President.  

	Office of Research director, the Rev. Mike Naylor, hopes to
organize the complete Disciples FACT data set to make it more
accessible "so a congregation, region or anyone else who needs
the information can slice and dice just the data they need to
utilize them in their planning and visioning." Naylor also is
the key FACT researcher for the Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ). 

	Faith Communities Today is the research and educational program
of the Cooperative Congregational Studies Project coordinated by
The Hartford Institute for Religion Research, Hartford (Conn.)
Seminary.  The institute's Carl S. Dudley and David A. Roozen
are the primary architects of the study and the authors of the
report. 

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