To join or not to join an Alabama Baptist church is a question visitors are now spending more time pondering, even as some of them become active in church.
“I just don’t see as many people joining as quickly,” said Lee Wright, associate in the office of LeaderCare/church administration of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
Drawing upon his 25-plus years in full-time ministry at churches, he observed that several factors influence whether attendees become members. Long-held traditions and cultural and family backgrounds, especially when the visitor is from another denomination, often influence the decision. Others are reluctant to “walk the aisle” in a large church, Wright said.
He believes the length of time visitors attend a church before they join is increasing.
“I remember in the mid-80s we began to notice that some people took a year to join, but in more recent years the time frame seems to be even longer — more like two years,” Wright said.
Travis Coleman Jr., senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Prattville, said he believes some top reasons visitors do join the local Baptist church are the children’s and youth programs of the church, how well they connect with the overall worship experience (preaching and music) and how friendly the congregation is.
But hesitancy in joining often comes when all of these elements are not found at the same church, Coleman said.
“We are seeing a trend where folks like one element in one church and something else in another, so they hopscotch around. This delays or even prevents prospects from joining,” Coleman said.
Sociological and cultural changes have impacted whether people join the church quickly or at all, Wright said.
Often people will embrace the idea of not joining anything, be it church, a fitness club or a book club — they are anti-organization, according to Wright.
“In the last five or so years a lot of things have been going on culturally, so I’ve got more questions than answers,” he said.
In the new George Gallup Jr. book, “The Next American Spirituality” it states that America is in a bull market spiritually.
But according to Wright, this bull market is often without parameters, meaning a significant number of people saying they are seeking “spiritual” things will look for them in all faiths, oftentimes without discarding any. In other words “spirituality” does not always equal “Christianity,” Wright said. This is why some “spirituality seekers” may not find what they are looking for in the Baptist church.
There has been some tracking of attendance vs. membership in Baptist and non-Baptist churches alike. Nonmembers attending churches comprised 10 percent of total church attendees, according to a U.S. Congregational Life Survey (2001). This is based on a study of 50 faith groups in 2,200 congregations involving 300,000 worshipers.
“At first, the researchers thought the 10 percent figure was so high it was a mistake, but they determined it wasn’t, and they figure that some people will never join,” said Cynthia Woolever, director of the survey.
Wright said that at most Baptist churches in Alabama someone can choose to join a Sunday School class without joining the church. But when joining the church the new members are usually assigned to a Sunday School class as encouragement to better acquaint them with the people.
“If people just show up for church, they don’t really get connected with the people and Sunday School is a way to establish those ties,” Wright said.
“A high percentage of those who join our church have already attended a Sunday School class,” Coleman added.
Because of its resort location, First Baptist Church of Gulf Shores skews the U.S. Congregational Life Survey percentage of nonmember attendees. The 527-member church can swell in attendance to 1,600 in Sunday morning worship services at times, said Mary O’Day, business manager of the church.
Part of this surge occurs as people from northern states migrate to live the winter months in the warmer climate of the Gulf coastal resort communities, while retaining church membership in their home states.
O’Day said the surge of nonmembers creates multiple services and additional Sunday School classes. Attendees may become teachers to lead some of the classes.
Lloyd Stilley, pastor of First, Gulf Shores, said to facilitate ministry between the church and these visitors, the church has developed “partners in ministry,” which means these regular attendees can take certain leadership roles in the church, while remaining nonmembers, he said.
“It’s just short of being a member of the church, but they can’t vote. They can work in the kitchen, join the choirs, be involved in Sunday School,” he said.
Stilley said these attending nonmembers are a delight to have and “jump in with both feet” to be vital parts of local church ministry.
Regular attendees’ involvement in the church means that Wednesday night suppers at the church outgrew facilities, spurring a nearly $2 million building project, set to be completed near the end of September. The fellowship hall is a major part of the expansion. Stilley said that in the last year and a half, people who have visited the church for one week at a time have contributed $300,000 toward the construction cost.
Stilley said that unlike the “partners in ministry” local nonmembers who just “float to different churches without ever joining” can be a problem for churches.
“Some of the folks who live here and float to one church, then another, feel no burden or obligation to be a part. That is a kind of siphoning effect on a church body, and it seems to be on an increase among churches,” he said. “Someone who lives here, who claims to be a Christian and never roots themselves in a local church is a huge spiritual problem. They want more, expect more and give less,” Stilley said.
About 30 percent of people attending worship on Sunday mornings at Southside Baptist Church, Huntsville, are nonmembers, said Les Brown, Southside associate pastor of evangelism and senior adults.
“We have 200 to 300 people who attend regularly but are not members,” he said. The church averages 800 to 1,000 people in Sunday morning worship.
“Some attendees who do join attend for as long as two or three years, but others join quickly — within a few Sundays,” Brown said.
He attributes some of the large number of attenders to the popularity of their pastor, Murray Wilton, whose South African accent carries on the airwaves of radio creating a wider audience.
He said their corporate worship time is another factor.
“I don’t see any major problem with it,” he said, referring to nonmember attendees.
“They would probably be more involved in the life and stewardship of the church if they were members, but as long as they’re coming and hearing the word of God — that’s the focus. Whether a person has accepted Jesus — that’s the real membership,” he said.
“There are a number of people I have met who attend and they’ve been coming for so long that you think they are members,” Brown said.
To teach a Sunday School class at Southside or be involved in other volunteer leadership roles at the church, membership is required, as is the case at most Baptist churches.
Share with others: