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By Tom Gillem*
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.
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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.
A UMNS photo by Rick L.
Houchin.
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“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.
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