The Basic Question: Why do People Attend a Church


All the rage today is discussion of "church planting." Church planting is the Christian name for startup churches. Denominations start churches. Mega churches also start churches at other locations. There are free standing unaffiliated churches as well.

People who write about church planting admit there is no comprehensive data about the success rate. The best source I found was one which collected some data and interviewed many people involved. This found 68% of the startups lasted at least four years. Interesting, however, is the more money spent on advertisement and the bigger the paid professional staff, the higher the success rate. This is the same formula for startup businesses of any kind.

This report did not include the percentage of people joining startup churches that came from other churches. While nearly all startups say in their written material they seek the "unchurched" who do not attend a church, from what I've read the people attracted most often transfer from existing churches. 

The most telling of the numbers in the paper is that by far the most successful kind of church startups presented "contemporary worship." I interpret this to mean the church services are cloned music concerts. I've watched a couple of these on line. Much of the service is modern Christian music. There is a short sermon between musical numbers. It is church as entertainment. 

That all church is a form of entertainment is what a former startup preacher concluded. He worked for some years starting up new churches. He said it was so discouraging he and others burned out and left the ministry. His conclusion is those who attend church do so because they enjoy it. When something comes along they enjoy more they move on. The rock concert type church service that works best for a startup format confirms this. 

Of course, church is also a social event. Seeing friends of long standing is, or has been traditionally, also part of the enjoyment.  This and the church service keeps millions of people attending churches. In spite of this, between 75 and 150 churches close each week in the U.S.

We hear these days about "dying industries." My bill for the daily delivered paper and the paper's website annual bill came today, $700.00. Ouch! Newspapers are a dying industry. As is the gasoline automobile. No-meat burgers are gaining popularity. Add to these dying industries an entertainment venue called the Christian church in the U.S.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maybe the "Original Sin" Should be Reassigned

Image
We can all agree most Catholic priests are fine people and not guilty of sexual abuse. What Catholics must face, however, it that their church harbors executives who are dishonest . There is an incredible story about the Argentine Bishop Zanchetta. The Pope worked with him in Argentina and they are considered friends. Around 2015 Zanchetta sent nude pictures of himself and they began circulating world wide. He also was too friendly with young seminarians and some left because of him.  Three different officials say they made formal complaints to the Vatican about Zanchetta between 2015 and 2017. Yet, in 2018, the Vatican claimed it was unaware of any complaints about Zanchetta. This might be a good time to repeat the Catholic hierarchy claims to have the sole authority handed down from Jesus to what the faith stands for. It condemns as sinners those who practice birth control, have abortions and gay sexual relationships. Handing the hierarchy this responsibility would make som
Read more

The Religious Capitol Invaders May Yet Win

Image
So much about U.S. society and religion can be learned from the Civil War and what happened afterwards. After its defeat, the South started a myth about the unethical soldiers from the North. The South fought for principles of God and states rights. The North did not. It was the South, this propaganda told the country, that had the high moral ground.  The Capitol invaders, encouraged by Trump, swallowed the myth that Biden's election was stolen. Thus, they think they held and still hold the high moral ground. This was reinforced by the cross and prayers during the invasion. Even with Trump is gone, we will see political opportunists like Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley stroking crowds and feeding the same lies as Trump. Like "the South will rise again" these gullible followers will talk of victory over the unclean. After the Civil War the South rallied around the phrase, Lost Cause. For decades, and maybe to this day, there are ceremonies remembering fallen martyrs, Re
Read more

Father Frank Pavone, the Ultimate Crook

Image
Recently, the Vatican defrocked Frank Pavone. His diehard fans are outraged. This is because he cleverly manipulated his fans and the press all the while living well from donations and, apparently, abusing some women. By making abortion the "sin" of the century, and himself the main opposition to this one sin, he himself could get away with any sin he pleased.  As the link points out, Pavone was the perfect priest for the Trump era. Trump is so self-important laws have no role in his life. He felt accountable to no one. Women were there to be had. Pavone and Trump are interchangeable.  Pavone was very successful raising money. In his mind, abortion was so important in Catholic beliefs and he was so important in anti-abortion the money he raised opposing it was his to do with what he liked. The Catholic Church, the brand name he used to raise this money, thought the money belonged to it. When he gave the Vatican the bird, it gave him walking papers. With polls showing the majo
Read more