On average, 140 to 200 people
attend Come2Go’s two worship ser- vices, Minnick said.
SHANE PEQUIGNOT/EYE PIX PHOTOGRAPHY
You probably wouldn’t notice it’s an ELCA worshiping community, but Come2Go in Fort Wayne, Ind., draws about 10,000 people a year for music concerts and 140 to 200 a week for worship services. Half of those worshipers first came to hear music, said pastor developer Mark Minnick, who reaches people who have little religious background.
ship poll of the National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago, fewer Americans are attending worship services. Weekly or more frequent attendance declined from 35 percent of the population in 1972 to 26 percent in 2008. At the same time, the number of Americans reporting that they never attend wor- ship increased from 9 percent to 21 percent.
This trend has Roberto worried. “If you look at it generationally, the most loyal, the most engaged people are those 60 and older,” he said. As that generation passes, they are fol- lowed by generations with “very low brand loyalty. In this next decade, we’re going to see it in declining par- ticipation,” he added. Average worship attendance in the ELCA is 125 people, said Ken- neth Inskeep, ELCA executive for research and evaluation. “I’m pre- dicting that by 2020, it will be down around 100 [in worship attendance] if the present trends continue,” he said. At that size, he noted, most congrega- tions can’t afford a full-time pastor. But Inskeep argues that we miss the bigger issue if we only look at
22 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
numbers. “Lutherans have a particu- larly important tradition to represent, which is … that God is a gracious God. It’s not about attendance … it’s about having a voice … with enough people to speak and be heard in the broader culture,” he said.
2. Growth in no religious affilia- tion. A 2009 American Religious Identifi- cation survey reported that the num- ber of Americans who don’t identify with any religion has doubled since 1990, from 8 percent to 15 percent. That’s the target audience for Come2Go’s Minnick. “It’s not rocket science,” he said.
About 10,000 people visit the
Fort Wayne music venue every year. While not everyone who comes to hear music will end up coming back for worship, some do. In fact, Min- nick said, half of the worshipers first walked into the building to hear music. “It’s a phenomenal place for
people to hear a great concert” and maybe, he added, “they’ll be interested in exploring Christian community.”
4. A new stage: Emerging adult- hood. “Emerging adulthood,” a growing life stage for 18- to 30-year-olds, is a period of exploration, autonomy and transience.
Kristen Glass Perez, ELCA direc- tor for youth and young adult min- istries, said this stage is too often defined by what these young adults lack—that is, the typical markers of adulthood: marriage, financial inde-
3. More spiritual, less religious. Annie Hoefferle, a 27-year-old accountant, loves her Chicago “work hard/play hard” life. She believes in God and reads the Bible. But she struggles to make it to Sunday morn- ing worship at the nearby Lutheran church and has felt turned off by church politics. Hoefferle keeps try- ing because she knows a faith com- munity is important but, she admit- ted, “it’s hard.” Hoefferle is part of a growing
trend of Americans, typically aged 18 to 39, who describe themselves as spiritual but not religious. A survey found that 18 percent of young adults identified this way in 2008 compared to only 11 percent a decade ago. Kristy Nabhan-Warren, assistant professor of religion at Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill., sees this trend among her students. Often, she said, this rejection of organized religion is balanced by a desire for a “meaningful church experience.” The challenge for congregations, Nabhan-Warren said, is to “do a bet- ter job of speaking the language of spirituality and making it less scary for young adults to go to church. … Show these young adults how a kind of personal spirituality can be nur- tured in community at church.”
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