UNITED STATES
A recent study by Faith Communities Today identifi ed seven characteristics of American church life during the fi rst decade of the new century.
Recent Trends Recent Trends
Recent Trends in American Christianity by Bob Terry
Contemporary and Innovative Worship Contemporary worship began on the West Coast in the
1990s and spread across the United States. By the end of the decade, contemporary worship was the primary worship style for evangelical churches and was used by more than four out of 10 of all churches. But contemporary worship did not always equate to church
growth. During the decade innovation was added as well. Innovative worship means different things to different people.
For some it is praise music backed by electric guitars and rock- style drums. For others it is serving the Lord’s Supper every week or kneeling in prayer or using liturgies as part of worship. Innovative worship seems to refer to styles with which participants were not previously familiar. The study found that innovation more than doubled the spiritual
vitality of the worship experience. For example, among churches using contemporary worship the percentage of churches judged to have high spiritual vitality jumped from 23.2 percent to 46.7 percent when innovation was added. Among churches not using contemporary worship, the percentage of high spiritual vitality jumped from 17.4 percent to 38 percent when innovation was added. Also the number of churches reporting rapid growth in attendance increased by about 50 percent when innovation was added to either traditional or contemporary worship styles.
Church is More than Worship Increasingly churches are moving from “supporting mission”
to “doing mission.” The survey asked about nine local mission programs to help evaluate local mission involvement. The study found an overall increase in local mission for all churches. The study also reported, “Most importantly, the net gain is the result of a signifi cant increase for evangelical Protestant congregations such that the common wisdom that ‘liberal’ Protestantism was more involved in local social service work than evangelical Protestantism has now been reversed.”
26 BAPTIST WORLD MAGAZINE
Member-oriented programs also increased as churches concentrated on offering prayer groups, Bible studies, parenting and marriage enrichment classes, youth programs, musical opportunities and, especially, programs for young adults. The study found that both the mission programs and the
member-oriented programs positively impacted spiritual vitality and church attendance.
Decline in Financial Health At the beginning of the decade, 31 percent of churches
reported excellent fi nancial health. In 2010 that percentage had dropped to 14 percent. The rate of decline in the second half of the decade was twice as fast as in the fi rst fi ve years. A full 80 percent of American churches reported their fi nances had been negatively impacted by the recession. Every kind of congregation in every part of the nation seemed to experience fi nancial decline. A hopeful fi nding was that by 2010, one in 10 churches reported
they were beginning to recover from the fi nancial recession. High Levels of Confl ict
The report bluntly declared, “One of the disturbing surprises
was the dramatically high level of confl ict found in American congregations. Almost two of every three congregations in 2010 had experienced confl ict in at least one of four key areas in the past fi ve years (worship, fi nances, leadership or priorities).” The report added that in one-third of the congregations
the confl ict was serious enough that members left or withheld contributions or a leader left. Confl ict negatively impacts a local church. Churches with
some serious confl ict were twice as likely to have low spiritual vitality, serious fi nancial diffi culty and a 10 percent or greater decline in attendance.
Aging Membership
The median age of the American population increased from 35.3 in 2000 to 37.2 in 2010, primarily due to the aging of the
Photo courtesy of David Ball
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