The percentage of all congregations in the United Church of Christ with average worship attendance of 50 people or less has been increasing since 2000. During that time the percentage nearly doubled from a little more than 1 in 4 congregations (27.8%) to 1 in 2 (50.9%).
During the same time period, the largest congregations in the United Church of Christ (average worship attendance of 400+) declined from 1 in 50 (1.9%) to 1 in 200 (0.6%).
So What?
The dual trends within the United Church of Christ of the rapid growth of those in the smallest category (1-50) and rapid decline of those in the largest category (400+) is disturbing.
According to the Fall 2018 edition of The United Church of Christ: A Statistical Profile, the denomination has nearly 5,000 congregations (4,956) and more than 850,000 members (853,778). This means that more than 2,500 congregations currently have average weekly worship attendance between 1 and 50 persons. It also means that only around 30 congregations now have an average weekly worship attendance of 400+ persons.
Notably, the unique challenges of small congregations is well documented. The growth of these congregations as a percentage of all congregations is not limited to a single denomination or even to a single group of denominations.
Finally, there is some good news for smaller congregations. Within the United Church of Christ, the percentage of total members within a congregation participating in worship on any given week is highest among the smallest congregations.
- 1-50 members: 87.4%
- 51-100 members: 54.9%
Comparatively congregations in the size groupings of 101+ fall between 29.9% and 43.6%. If congregations between 101-200 members are eliminated the range narrows to 29.9% to 34.8%.
Questions
- What is your initial response to the information presented in the post? Does it primarily support or largely challenge your assumed narrative of statistical change?
- Share the story of your congregation’s average worship attendance from the year 2000 to present. Did your congregation change categories during those years (1-50, 51-100, 101-150, 151-200, 201-400, 400+)?