Few people will argue that church attendance in many churches in America is declining. Our own research indicates that the majority of churches in our country are not growing.
Most of us have our own ideas why attendance is declining. Many have suggested that our nation is shifting away from its Christian roots, and thus the churches are declining as a smaller proportion of our country are believers in Christ.
I certainly will not argue with that premise. Certainly attendance declines are related to massive cultural shifts in our nation. But I would also suggest that one reason for declines has a greater impact than others.
The Frequency Issue
Stated simply, the number one reason for the decline in church attendance is that members attend with less frequency than they did just a few years ago. Allow me to explain.
If the frequency of attendance changes, then attendance will respond accordingly. For example, if 200 members attend every week the average attendance is, obviously, 200. But if one-half of those members miss only one out of four weeks, the attendance drops to 175.
Did you catch that? No members left the church. Everyone is still relatively active in the church. But attendance declined over 12 percent because half the members changed their attendance behavior slightly.
This phenomenon can take place rather quickly in an individual church. And leaders in the church are often left scratching their heads because the behavioral change is so slight, almost imperceptible. We really don’t notice when someone who attends four times a month begins to attend only three times a month. Nor do we typically catch it when the twice-a-month attendee becomes a once-a-month attendee.
Five Possible Approaches to the Problem
Of course, the heart of the problem is not declining numbers but waning commitment. As I addressed in my book, I Am a Church Member, church membership is becoming less and less meaningful in many churches. As membership becomes less meaningful, commitment naturally wanes.
While I don’t want to suggest there is a magic bullet to this problem, I do want to offer some approaches to address it. These five have proven to be the most helpful in hundreds of churches:
- Raise the expectations of membership. You may be surprised how many church members don’t really think it’s that important to be an active part of the church. No one has ever told them differently.
- Require an entry class for membership. By doing so, the church makes a statement that membership is meaningful. The class should also be used to state the expectations of what a committed member looks like.
- Encourage ministry involvement. Many members become less frequent attendees because they have no ministry roles in the church. They do not feel like they are an integral part of the church.
- Offer more options for worship times. Our culture is now a 24/7 population. Some members have to work during the times of worship services. If possible, give them options. One businessman recently told me that he changed congregations to a church that offered a Saturday worship time because his job required him to catch a plane on Sunday morning.
- Monitor attendance of each member. This approach is often difficult, especially for worship attendance. That is why the traditional Sunday school approach of calling absentees was so effective. Perhaps churches can incorporate that approach in all groups. Members are less likely to be absent if they know someone misses them.
When Church Membership Becomes Meaningful
People want to be a part of something that makes a difference. They desire to be involved in something bigger than themselves.
Unfortunately, in many churches membership has become less and less meaningful. Until we get our churches back to the committed membership the Apostle Paul mandates in 1 Corinthians 12, we will continue to see declining attendance. But when membership becomes truly meaningful, our churches will become an unstoppable force for the Kingdom and glory of God.
Posted on August 19, 2013
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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280 Comments
Without going into details, one reason people try church and never come back is the abominable behavior of others to include the leaders! Also, the most important relationship w/God is the personal one. Sorry, but I don’t believe God favors 2 hour of worship on Sunday over 5 minutes of worship a day at home. Also, I’ve noticed several church leaders yelling at people, and bossing them around like children. Yeah, right that packs them in!
I think people are getting wiser & reading scripture on their own. Many pastors are not called or annointed, pastoring is a pay check to them. God wants us to have a relationship with Him, not put the pastor on a pedestal. God never say in the NT you must join any church, He said assemble with the Saints and this can be at home, work anywhere not a building called a church. The hustle is if I tell the people God says you must attend church & bring me 10% when you come or you robbing God. Folks this is not true. Churches promote Christmas which is a pagan holiday & in Isiah the Bible describes Christmas & Christmas tree being a tradition of men & not to follow it. People read your Bible yourself so you’ll know the truth from untruth. If you have a church that’s standing on the Word & not yielding to rotten society, that’s great, but remember also in Paul’s day they had church at the house. Church today want people to come to them but Jesus & his Apostle took the church to the sinners, most church have church folk walking around on Sunday morning telling each other how saved & blessed they are but it doesn’t go past the walls of the church. Read so you’ll know what the Word says, don’t trust your salvation with a man who is no more than a good speaker, have a relationship with God, and worship God daily in everything you do for true worshipping requires a lifestyle change for most.
I sense that young people today (and I have three young adult children in their early twenties) have a much higher sense of social justice than I did at the same age. They don’t go for the sacramental stuff any more. The bells and smoke. They eschew formal worship (as Christ told us to do in Matthew 6 – ‘When you pray, go into your room and close the door etc…). They are far more concerned about things like universal health care, the abolition of capital punishment (the right to life, Dad, they tell me, doesn’t end at birth!) the fair treatment of the lowest paid workers, refugees and others who Christ might have called the ‘least of my brothers’. A fairer distribution of wealth from the ‘haves’ to the ‘have nots’ – all things we know Christ would support by our knowledge of Him through the Gospels but things which are hard to sell. Much easier to bang on about same sex marriage, abortion, contraception etc. because holding those beliefs don’t actually require personal sacrifice. Giving up some material wealth to ensure the poorer are a little better off goes right to the heart of the Christian message. And it’s not pretty for many. That’s when the arms get crossed and otherwise ‘Christian’ men and women suddenly start espousing singularly un-Christian things like ‘God helps those who help themselves’, or ‘Health care is not a right’, or ‘I work hard for my money and they’re just lazy good-for-nothings.’ These types of statements, as inconsistent with the Gospels of Jesus as they are, repel the young from our churches when espoused by religious leaders. But that’s OK, because the young seem to be working on the things which Jesus Himself would probably deem important!
Brother Rainer, I agree with you 1,000%. Here’s the tough part. Our church offers two different services: Sunday Morning and Wednesday Night which they call contemporary. I’m a young person in my 30’s but you couldn’t pay me 1 million dollars to get me in the door of my own church on Wednesday night. Why? Because it is the most boring thing I have ever experienced in my life. We have about 6 people who show up on Wednesdays. It’s become a chore sadly so I don’t go. I don’t get ANYTHING out of Wednesday nights. I know, it’s sad. The preacher preaches but other than the sermon, I get nothing out of Wednesday nights.
Also, it gets tough to hear somebody “share a testimony” before EVERY song. It’s like they like to hear themselves talk. It’s tough.
We have Sunday Night prayer meetings. Nobody goes to that either. We were once a 400 member church. Now we have 35 members. God is showing us who is in charge and IT IS NOT US.
I have a question. My daughter used to live in one town. She found a church there and started attending, then met the man of her dream and they started attending as a couple. Then they got married and really had to work into their schedule to be able to attend, and that was on Sunday night. They joined on statement of faith but wanted to be baptized again because her husband had only been sprinkled and my daughter couldn’t remember her experience as she was a young child. My daughter got a new job and is now is attending on Sunday morning and her husband has worked his schedule so that he can now attend Sunday morning. They are faithful. Now, they have purchased a home 25 minutes from church. They still want to attend original church, so they can attend together. He works on Sunday and had to juggle things to get to go.
Here is the thing. She doesn’t want to drive the 25 minutes to church at night and would like to attend night church closer to home, because she has to get up at 4:30AM. Is is possible, is it rude to attend one church in the AM and another in the PM. Would she split the tithe on the two churches. She has no problems, but just wonders if she would be accepted.
Pastor,
One of the reasons in my opinion is what is said in the Bible : “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” Our ‘stadium churches’ are overflowing though !!
Dr. Ranier … great article, and timely follow-up comments. Can you fell the hurt that is out there? It is a part of the problem too – people having been ‘run-over’ by a leadership that only sees ‘advancing’ kingdom objectives through a single lens of America corporateness. After 38 years of ministry, a band of bullies (only 4) caught up with me as a pastor, violated their own by laws, and tossed me to the curb so they could do things their way. With over 350 pastors a week either calling it quits, or being blindsided, this musical chair of leadership also affects the commitment level of ‘sheep’ being cared for – and also being herded to attend for no other reason then someone’s misplaced Kingdom expectation for larger and better. Now ‘out’ – I can’t get back in to a local church because of the perception of being ‘damaged’ – all because of some guys wanted it their way. This wasting of leadership needs to be reversed because it is one more example of churches not living up their own mission/vision statements of ‘loving God, loving others and serving all …” except their own leaders. Dying to serve, equip and train- but now can’t. Church leadership has become a ‘club.’ Whatever part I played over the years – I repent. We must release more ministry – and hold on to less. Great article.