A closer look at the data girding a major new peer-reviewed study about the nature of successful—and failing—churches
St. Pauls Anglican church on Bloor street in Toronto, Ontario encourages the use of modern luxuries and technolgies during congregations. The church considers itself very progressive in a traditional setting. (Photograph by Cole Garside)
Overall, church attendance in mainline Protestant denominations is falling. Buildings are being closed, with some being converted into condominiums and private homes. But some individual churches are growing, often by leaps and bounds. Why?
The long disputed question of just what role adherence to core Christian orthodoxy plays in a church’s numerical success—that is, whether it is growing or declining—has received a compelling and convincing answer in a major new peer-reviewed study—the Mainline Church Growth Study—by two Canadian academics, Wilfrid Laurier University sociologist David Haskell and Kevin Flatt, professor of church history at Hamilton’s Redeemer University College. They gave detailed questionnaires to both clergy and congregations of mainline Protestant churches (Anglican, United, Presbyterian and Evangelical Lutheran) in southern Ontario and looked at data from 2003-13.
The answers reveal a sharp divide: growing churches believe far more strongly than declining ones in traditional Christian orthodoxy—basic articles of faith (the ancient Creeds), the authority of Scripture, God’s visible working in the world today, the exclusivity of Christianity (Jesus as the door to eternal life), and the importance of daily prayer.
In a Canadian exclusive, Haskell and Flatt have shared their findings with Maclean’s. In addition to the study’s key results found in this story, here are nine things that stood out among the answers given by congregants and clergy that are growing or shrinking—all rather relevant for a religion of revelations.
Growing church congregations
Declining church congregations
Growing church clergy
Declining church clergy
Growing church congregations
Declining church congregations
Growing church clergy
Declining church clergy
Among growing church congregations:
Among declining church congregations:
Among growing church clergy:
Among declining church clergy:
Among growing church congregations:
Among declining church congregations:
Among growing church clergy:
Among declining church clergy:
Among growing church congregations:
Among declining church congregations:
Among growing church clergy:
Among declining church clergy:
Among growing church clergy:
Among declining church clergy:
Among growing church congregations:
Among declining church congregations:
Among growing church congregations:
Among declining church congregations:
Among growing church clergy:
Among declining church clergy:
SOURCE: D. Millard Haskell, Kevin N. Flatt, Stephanie Burgoyne, Mainline Church Growth Study (2016)