M. Julian Thompson
9/3/10
11:17 A.M.
Methodist churches throughout the country are experiencing a steady rate of decrease in attendance and membership. Being ranked in the top five most populous Christian denominations, this Protestant group is determined to find a diagnosis and steps to solve this shrinking of both attendance and budget.
To try to find out what "demons" were ailing their worship, and what characteristics mark a healthy church, the United Methodist Group issued a survey to 33,000 Methodist churches across the country. An example of the questions on this survey is "How many children are active in your church?" and "Who is lay leadership composed of?" These surveys illustrated four main points of "vitality" within a church.
-Youth-aimed worship groups.
-"An active lay leadership"
-Pastors who serve long terms and are "inspirational"
-"A mix of temporary and traditional services"
One example of a healthy church is Indianapolis' St. Luke's Methodist Church which exhibits all of these qualities. The Pastor of the church Rev. Kent Millard has been a part of this church for 17 years now, and even the previous minister held his position for 26 years, so having long term consecutive leaders is a great advantage for gaining members. Millard also says that the church has had contemporary youth and adult bible studies and Sunday school classes for many years now, and it has been a huge success. These worship services include a live band and uses Hollywood films to keep things lively. The leadership of this church is composed of a board of 12 people all who play active roles in society like teachers, attorneys, and business owners, all who discuss the direction of the church frequently. This church is an example for all Methodist churches that want to grow in size and faith, St. Luke's has already climbed past 6,000 in members and is still growing today.
Overall this survey cost the United Methodist Headquarters $200,000 but they say it was well worth the information to find a template for all Methodist churches, but now is the time to start putting it to use.
www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i7tADnxuR79MJPcf7h0C8jxGSMGQD9HV8B180
6 comments:
This is very interesting, because I am methodist. I have noticed a big difference of congregation size since I was a kid. I am glad that the Methodist denomination as a whole, is trying to figure out a way to increase size. The style of the one Methodist church is very different than my own church, but i think it all churches tried to pick things up, then there would be a huge amount of people who would consider going. I find this article very true and it is fascinating that it is happening all over the country.
Growing up, I used to go to church with my grandmother sometimes. It was Methodist church. It had always been a small church and was one of the oldest church in my county. Over the years, I still have seen a decrease in people who attend. The most it has had that I have ever seen was close to 60. Today, there may be 10 people that still attend. Granted most of them are the older generation (baby boomers), but what has happened? I really think that the avoidance to transition from traditonal to contemporary is the answer for the decrease of attendance in the Methodist church.
It is very sad to hear that churches, in this case the Methodist churches, are decreasing in attendance. It seems as though what the country was build on, which was Christianity, is slowly changing in morality. A part of this, I believe, is because America is too scared to step on the diversity’s toes. You see other countries who are strong in their faith and aren’t afraid to show it. Over here, its not very clear what the country’s dominate religion is, especially when you have this president trying to build a mosque for the Muslim religion, right where thousands of American lives were lost, because of Muslims.
I think it's very important to stay relevant in churches or they will deter the young generation from attending. I prefer churches that are modern and contemperary, but that's just my personal opinion.
Religion is a big deal for people. I would like to see what a Methodist church would be like so I can be open to other peoples religion.
I thought this was really interesting. It's surreal to think about what would happen if one of the larger Protestant denominations were to go extinct.
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