Online Archives

BY CHRISTOPHER J. TROILO

In an on-going series, the UMConnection is examining the four focuses that will guide The United Methodist Church at the 2008 General Conference.
This second article explores the second initiative of the Connectional Table: Creating a Strategy to Develop New Congregations.

For the past several years, The United Methodist Church, especially in the United States, has seen a dramatic decrease in overall membership, despite increased involvement from minority groups.

A number of factors have been put forth as a cause for the sharp decline and some proposed strategies for growing and retaining involvement in the church have been offered.

During the late 1990s, The United Methodist Church had a membership in the United States around
9 million members. Since then, many congregations reported a decline in their individual churches, thus in 2006, when the Martec State of the Church report was commissioned, the researchers paid close attention to membership levels.

These reports showed that in 2004, The United Methodist Church had roughly 8.2 million members. In 2005, a new census showed that number dropped to 7.9 million, the lowest level of membership for the church since the 1930s.

Further research indicates of all the U.S. churches collecting statistics in 2004, only 36 percent of them reported having membership increases, and most indicated proportional decreases in attendance.

Youth absent in pews
The most alarming statistics were related to age. Reports showed that the average age for a United Methodist member is about 57 and members under the age of 18 account for only 4.6 percent of the church's population.

For this reason, the church has focused much of its attention to ascertain why there are such low levels of young adults and children in the congregations.

Concurrent to collecting the raw data in the State of the Church report, researchers also held in-depth, individual conversations with 300 lay members, clergy and leaders. Participants were asked to talk about the role of the church in their lives, what they want to see change, and issues of importance.

One of the main key issues that was raised and discussed was the urgent need to attract youth.
These conversations resulted in some summary findings and observations regarding growth and retention, especially of young adults and children. Many people believe that the reasons behind decrease of younger membership can be attributed to:

• Increased mobility of younger people, resulting in less commitment to a specific local church.
• The image of Sunday as a "church day" is no longer a strong association in today's society.
• The growth of technologically modern mega-churches.
• Lack of engagement/ability to keep younger members involved in line with their goals.

Mega-churches draw members
While the first two of these points are a result of a global cultural shift and will be hard for churches, both individually and collectively, to counteract, the second two points can be addressed and examined more thoroughly.

The birth of the mega-church, churches defined as having roughly 2,000 or more worshippers for a typical weekly service, has altered the way spiritual services are performed away from conventional practices many Christian denominations still employ.

Instead of small wooden pews, one or two microphones, and an organ or piano, mega-churches boast stadium style seating for thousands, use state of the art visual projection equipment and play mostly contemporary music, often times with a full band.

These factors - combined with the fact the mega-churches are near to mastering the art of recruitment - make them very appealing to younger
people. Another aspect which draws youth to them is that roughly 34 percent of mega-churches consider themselves to be non-denominational.

Personal involvement essential
This is complementary to a recent find discovered when polling young adults who said that the character of church was far more important to them, in terms of being members, than was the denomination.

At the present time, only 5 percent of all mega-churches in the United States are United Methodist.
But mega-churches may not be the solution to growing congregations. It is the experience of involvement that brings most Sunday frequenters back each week.

Chris Reynolds, a young adult member of Dumbarton UMC in Washington, D.C., commented on the mega-church movement. "I worry that these massive churches are too big to develop a real sense of community among their members inside the church and a sense of shared destiny with those in the community outside the church," he said.

It is this engagement factor which many people believe is the key to retention for churches, and an area The United Methodist Church needs to focus on, especially regarding young adults.

Members must sense relevance
Many younger members feel that there is a lack of meaningful adult education or programming directed towards them. Furthermore, younger and younger generations feel a desire to make a difference in the world in drastic ways, and aren't always finding those outlets when they search church communities.

"It's important to invite your young members to be a part of the church leadership," said Jill Campbell, a young adult in the Baltimore-Washington Conference who has been an active member of six different United Methodist congregations while growing up. "Help them feel welcome in your community by engaging them in small groups and other activities where they can get to know the congre-gation."

Current United Methodist church members note that young people want activity; not just sitting and listening. Along with this idea, many younger members tend to prefer missionary work rather than "conventional" church volunteering.

Reynolds says he is part of a generation that is "looking to be inspired; we are enthusiastic about joining causes whose members are earnest about what they want to achieve and have a plan for doing it."

Don't know? Ask.
But in general, the number one way to retain youth is for the church community to go out of its way to find out what has drawn them to the church in the first place. Discover exactly what they are looking for or striving to achieve and then work with them to help meet that goal.

Lauren Sicking Reynolds, another active member of Dumbarton UMC, sums this up by saying, "Support their interests by thinking outside the box - with younger people, I think it's really a matter of finding out ‘who they want to be' within the church community. Some young people may want to stick mostly with other young people, while others may be eager to take on a full, active role with all the accompanying responsibilities. Ask them."

Hospitality plays a role
Of course, building a strong youth base is not the sole answer in growing congregations. Many other factors must be considered; espec-ially regarding ways to ensure the church is a welcoming society. Many churches are used to their "traditional" ways and long-established groups which can often times alienate newer members looking for a church with a strong social atmosphere.

Another crucial aspect of congregational growth or attrition may be directly related to the pastor. Many people feel that the pastor's ability to connect to its members, through words or actions, is a major contributing factor for strong congregations.

Campbell recalled, "Some pastors are better than others at helping their church to be a place that feels welcoming to visitors. Parishioners need encouragement and advice about things they can do to make people feel welcome to a new place. I have visited churches where I have come and gone with no one saying hello or greeting me."

Gaining hearts and minds
With all of the above obstacles to overcome, the proposal for the Connectional Table on this issue suggests re-casting and focusing the vision for evangelism in the United States and reaching out to urban, rural and ethnic groups; youth and young adults; and newly arriving immigrants.

The Connectional Table has set a metric goal of 350 new churches a year in the United Status, with 80 percent of those churches averaging 250 people in worship within five years of their launch.
If successful, The United Methodist Church would welcome 87,500 new members in five years.

If they can tap into the hearts and minds of that many people genuinely wanting to find a fulfilling spiritual experience in the United Methodist faith, there is optimism that this goal is not only achievable, but just the beginning.