That church attendance continues trending downward is not news. It has for years. In the 1950s about 49 percent of respondents indicated they had attended a religious service in the past seven days. Today positive responses to that question are in the mid-30 percent range, according to the Gallup Research organization.
A Gallup Poll released Sept. 7, 2018, showed 38 percent of Americans indicated they attend religious services weekly or almost weekly. That number has steadily declined from 42 percent in 2014.
Another 12 percent said they attend religious services about once a month, a percentage that has been constant for the last four years.
The only number that is growing is the number who seldom or never attend religious services. That number grew from 44 percent in 2014 to 48 percent in the latest Gallup release.
Drawing a comparison from business and industry, Gallup has posited the question, “Do members quit churches or do they quit church leaders?”
That question reflects the finding from business and industry that employees don’t quit companies, they quit managers.
Who is to blame?
Certainly it is unfair to lay the blame for members leaving the church solely at the feet of church leaders — specifically the pastor. To do so fails to account for the changes in life situations of members and all the other reasons that impact decisions about where to worship or whether to worship at all.
Also, attempting to draw comparisons between employees and church members may be a “step too far.” Employees have a different relationship with their supervisor than church members have with their pastor, since church members voluntarily choose to be affiliated with a church.
Still, Gallup offers some intriguing insights into the relationship between church leadership and attendance. For example, when members who had attended church in the past seven days were asked to rate three primary areas of their pastor’s ministry, responses were substantially higher than responses from members who had not attended in the past seven days.
The first group gave outstanding ratings for delivering sermons — 63 percent; having caring personal interactions with members — 63 percent; and managing operations — 56 percent. The second group gave outstanding ratings of 41 percent, 40 percent and 36 percent respectively. That is more than a 20 percentage point difference for each area.
When all church member responses were tabulated, 54 percent rated sermons as outstanding; 53 percent noted outstanding interpersonal relations with members; and 48 percent praised outstanding church management.
If activeness in the church is supposed to result in higher evaluations, then there seems to be a lot of work that needs to be done with about half the membership.
Gallup wrote, “The correlational data do raise the possibility that those who are staying away from church may be doing so precisely because they are less engaged by their church leaders than those who attend more frequently.” While this conclusion is still somewhat speculative, there are other studies which point to the importance of church leadership and participation in religious worship.
In 2017, Gallup released a study declaring that sermon content is what appeals most to churchgoers. That study found that “sermons or talks that teach me more about Scripture” and “sermons or lectures that help me connect religion to my own life” were the two most important reasons responders gave for attending church.
Not only were the sermons the most important factor for responders (76 percent and 75 percent respectively), they were rated “not a factor” (8 percent) or “minor factor” (16 percent) by the fewest number of people.
That finding was consistent with a study by Pew Research a decade earlier that found the quality of the sermon was the most important factor in deciding what church to attend (83 percent). The next most important item was being welcomed by church leaders (79 percent).
Again, both the Gallup and the Pew studies stress the importance of church leadership in helping people find the value they seek in attending worship.
Earlier this year an article on Church Leaders’ website listed the top 12 reasons people leave a local church. The top reason was relationship conflict — someone gets mad at someone else and one or both leave the church.
But three of the next four reasons pointed back to the importance of church leadership. The reasons, in order, were weak preaching, authoritarian leadership and neglected pastoral care.
It seems both academic and anecdotal research by church leaders concludes that pastoral and ministerial staff leadership is critical to whether someone stays or leaves a local church.
A few years ago a well-known professor of preaching declared, “People join a church because of the pastor.” Though not the only reason, it is an important reason and must not be overlooked.
Christ is the head of the church
At the same time churches are not personality cults built around the pastor or church staff members. The head of the Church is Jesus Christ. The church helps us worship Him, grow in His grace and live to exemplify His love for all people.
The New Testament describes the Church as the Body of Christ and every part of the body is important. But there can be little doubt that the role of the pastor and other church leaders in preaching, in relationships and in management are important (some would say critical) factors in the life of a local church.
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