Home > Our World > News > News Archives by Date > 2010 > March > Archive
Churches keep worship staff, despite economy

 
Translate

3:00 P.M. EST March 24, 2010 | UMNS

Worshippers take Holy
 Communion at The Native American United Methodist Gathering in Tempe, 
Ariz., in June 2005. A UMNS photo by Ronny Perry.II
Worshippers take Holy Communion at The Native American United Methodist Gathering in Tempe, Ariz., in June 2005. A UMNS photo by Ronny Perry.
View in Photo Gallery

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)—The global economic crisis is having an impact on United Methodist churches, but it hasn’t hampered worship ministries in most cases.

About 35 percent of surveyed United Methodist churches say they have been affected “seriously” or “severely” by the global economic crisis.

However, only 14.5 percent of 646 churches responding to a survey made some sort of reductions to their worship staffs.

Only 51 of the churches (7.9 percent) dismissed a member of their worship team, according to the summer 2009 survey by the United Methodist Board of Discipleship. During the same period, 25 churches added a worship staff person.

Half of the responding churches said the recession had no effect on program expenses for worship. Nearly one-third of them reduced the budgets, but only 16 churches discontinued a choir and only 12 dropped a worship service.

“One of the things that actually surprised me in looking at the responses was how few congregations ended worship services as a result of the economic crisis,” said the Rev. Taylor Burton-Edwards, director of worship resources for the Nashville agency.

A mix of young and 
old gather for worship at First United Methodist Church in Superior, 
Neb., in May 2003. <br/>A UMNS photo by Rick L. Houchin.
A mix of young and old gather for worship at First United Methodist Church in Superior, Neb., in May 2003.
A UMNS photo by Rick L. Houchin.
View in Photo Gallery

“If the general assessment of fiscal impact on the congregation as a whole is correct, it appears that staffing and programmatic expenses for worship, generally speaking, may have been protected relative to other areas of the congregation's life,” Burton-Edwards said.

“What this may indicate is that, when push comes to shove, worship holds a high budgetary priority.”

Impact on small churches

Burton-Edwards said the survey shows smaller congregations are less likely to perceive financial threats or to respond to them by reducing staff, programming or resources.

“Overall, it appears that large congregations (average worship attendance more than 451) in this sample experienced significantly greater impacts on local finances and worship staffing, programming and resources than smaller ones did,” Burton-Edwards said.

“Against the common wisdom that larger organizations may be in a better stead to weather economic storms, these data indicate larger congregations may be more likely to perceive the threats to be more severe and respond in a more dramatic way than smaller ones, even in an area such as worship — widely deemed to be a core ministry of the congregation's life,” he said.

Traditional services dominate

When asked what styles of worship the churches conduct:

  • 72 percent said they have traditional services.
  • 40 percent have blended services.
  • 22 percent conduct contemporary services.
  • Fewer than 14 percent describe one of their services as “praise.”

The figures add up to more than 100 percent, since some churches have multiple services.

More than 72 percent of the surveyed churches have two services, 16 percent have three and nearly 5 percent have four or more services.

A complete report of the data is available on the Board of Discipleship Web site.

*Gillem is a Brentwood, Tenn.,-based freelance writer for the United Methodist Board of Discipleship.

News media contact: Tim Tanton or David Briggs, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

Comments will be moderated. Please see our Comment Policy for more information.
Comment Policy
Add a Comment

Ask Now

This will not reach a local church, district or conference office. InfoServ* staff will answer your question, or direct it to someone who can provide information and/or resources.

Phone
(optional)

*InfoServ ( about ) is a ministry of United Methodist Communications located in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 1-800-251-8140

Not receiving a reply?
Your Spam Blocker might not recognize our email address. Add this address to your list of approved senders.

Would you like to ask any questions about this story?ASK US NOW