Volume Three    Number One February/March 2006       

INDEX:

This quarterly electronic newsletter is dedicated to promoting the work and research of over twenty web sites of religion institutes, programs and projects related to the initiatives in religion of the Lilly Endowment, Inc. The newsletter offers informative summaries of research and news contained on these web sites in an effort to make this information more widely known and used. more

Special features in this issue include a summary of new research about megachurches and a review of the Faith Communities Today web site.
Visit the links to the left to explore the individual features of the newsletter.  A pdf version of this newsletter is available to print and distribute. more   

Each newsletter issue contains two feature articles. The first feature is a  summary of religion research findings often drawn from several of the web sites covered by this newsletter. A second feature article is an in-depth review of the content offered by one of the more than 20 web sites associated with the InSites into American Religion project.

Megachurch Trends: Mapping a Religious Mountain Range

The number of megachurches in the United States has grown tremendously over the past five years, according to a new study, which suggests this innovative American institution has taken root and is thriving.

The study, by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research and the Dallas-based church resource center Leadership Network, shows there are at least 1,200 Protestant churches in the United States with a weekly attendance of 2,000 people or more. Most of these churches are located in the South and in the West, and nearly all of them worship in a contemporary style that embraces the latest technology.

An earlier survey in 1999 and 2000, conducted five years ago by Scott Thumma, was sent to the 600 megachurches known at the time. By 2003, another 250 churches were known. The combination of lists from the two organizations and subsequent research yielded 400 additional churches. This increase surprised researchers and confirmed their hunch that the movement is not only popular, but spreading rapidly.

People have been saying, “This is a baby-boom phenomenon. The megachurches reached their apex and are waning,” said Scott Thumma of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, the lead researcher. “I never believed that. But I did underestimate how much they were growing.”

In addition to the growing numbers of megachurches, the study found these congregations grew rapidly as well. The average weekly attendance at the over 400 megachurches who completed the survey rose to 3,585, compared to average attendance of 2,279 people these churches reported for the year 2000 - a 57 percent increase. The study found that the more recently a megachurch was founded, the more rapidly it was growing and the larger the average size of the worship attendance. This may indicate that these recently founded churches are born with a large church model in mind and are taking advantage of the lessons of older megachurches, borrowing their strategies to boost attendance.

Although megachurches still account for less than 1 percent of all congregations in the United States, they are drawing an increasing share of members, estimated at 7 to 10 percent of all Protestant worshippers on any given week.

“If all megachurches together formed one denomination,” said Warren Bird, director of research at the Leadership Network, “they would be the fifth-largest Protestant body.”

In nearly all megachurches the senior pastor is the main attraction and is one of the primary draws for new members. About 80 percent of megachurches use electric guitars, bass and drums, as well as visual projection equipment. Ninety percent of megachurches described their services as spiritually alive, joyful, inspirational, and thought-provoking.

“Whatever they’re doing in worship, it is clearly resonating with a lot of contemporary folks,” said Thumma. “This is what many people want in terms of the presentation of the Gospel.”

Megachurches share other characteristics. Between 35 and 40 percent of these churches are non-denominational. Many others minimize their denominational ties, most obviously by dropping the affiliation from the church’s name. Theologically, 56 percent of the churches chose the designation "Evangelical" and another 16 percent "Pentecostal." Politically, 50 percent of respondents identified themselves as predominantly conservative, and another 33 percent said they were somewhat conservative.

Still, the study’s authors caution that not all megachurches are alike. Older megachurches do not look like newer ones and larger ones function differently than smaller one. Likewise, the race of the pastor makes some difference as does the theological orientation of the church.

The study shows megachurches struggle with space issues. Many don’t have worship centers large enough to accommodate the crowds and rely on multiple services, overflow rooms or satellite locations to increase capacity.

But like big-box stores and megaplex movie theaters, many Christians have become familiar with the megachurch model and, as the study shows, they are comfortable with it. Bird suggested many Christians find a sense of belonging through small groups.

“The best megachurches grow bigger by becoming smaller,” said Bird. “If someone is connected to one or two small groups, such as a Bible study or service team, and have developed meaningful friendships, then it doesn’t matter how big the over all church becomes.”

Visit http://hirr.hartsem.edu/org/faith_megachurches_research.html to read the full report. A 15-minute podcast discussion of key survey findings is also archived on the Leadership Network site at
www.leadnet.org/links/podcast-MegachurchMyths.asp

Imagine sitting around a table collaboratively working on a survey of religious life with Muslims, Baha'is, Mormons, Baptists, Methodists, Nazarenes, Seventh-day Adventists and Jews. Then imagine that this collective survey in 2000 produced 14,000 results. Such was the origin of the Faith Communities Today (FACT) web site - aimed at disseminating the findings from that massive study.

Five years later, the organization has evolved and so has its web site. The group has become a permanent coalition of diverse religious groups, called the Cooperative Congregational Studies Partnership, and is intent on researching American congregations collectively every few years. But the coalition realized that such research is only a tool toward its broader goal of congregational development. The partnership has challenged itself, therefore, to gauge its success as much by the effectiveness of the congregational resources it produces as by the quality of its research.

The Faith Communities Today 2005 (FACT2005) Survey report, to be released in April 2006, is the next in a series of projects from the group. Watch also for a late Spring release of a new series of congregational resources called Insights.

The new web site look and function reflects the changes the organization is making and has great potential as a future solid resource both for information about religious life but also for ideas about how to apply that research to the real world of congregational leadership. You can read more about the new purpose of this group at http://fact.hartsem.edu/about.html

The research section of the site http://fact.hartsem.edu/research is now divided into the distinctive research projects. Previously the entire site was dominated by the FACT2000 information, whereas it now occupies a small section of the site - although all the information from the previous site remains online.

A new newsletter, Leadership & Transformation, also resides on the site at http://fact.hartsem.edu/newsletter/ and will be characterized by suggestions and stories about the application of research-based resources for the betterment of congregational life and leadership. The Feb/March 2006 issue will highlight the results and leadership implications of a new survey of megachurches. The April/May issue will provide a first look at the results and leadership implications of the new FACT2005 survey.

The web site offers easy access to several reports from the previous research in a section highlighting its products http://fact.hartsem.edu/products/. The group intends to offer new research reports in the next several months as well as short summary insights related to congregational topics such as youth development and stewardship strategies.

The site has a clean new look, supported by an organization with a new vision and sense of purpose. Watch for several quality reports and products posted to the web site over the next few months.

Interested in Worship Within a Campus Ministry Context? Check out the great resources and suggestions on the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship web site at http://www.calvin.edu/worship/wcom/campus

Religionlink www.religionlink.org, an effort of the Religion Newswriters Association, is a great resource for anybody studying one of the over 80 different subjects covered on this site. Check out the full list of topics at www.religionlink.org/tipsheets.php

The scripts for the dialogue between teens on the waytolive.org site are available on the library page of the Practicing Our Faith site at http://www.practicingourfaith.org/cfm/library/view.cfm?id=510&page=1.

GospelCity www.gospelcity.com/ has a very interesting guide to gospel performers, industry news, new music, gospel videos, interviews, and much more.

Excellent practical information about how to structure and host an interfaith discussion, along with suggestions for using clips and study guides from the show to prompt conversation, can be found on the Religion and Ethics Newsweekly site at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/resources/or_dialogue.html

Need Resources to Assess Student Learning?

A new feature of the Web site of The Association of Theological Schools provides links to 25 of the best online resources for assessing student learning and institutional effectiveness. The list is part of the Association's project on assessing learning for religious vocation. www.ats.edu/projects/Onlineassessmentresourcesintro.asp

 The Calvin Institute for Christian Worship site has been blogged. They now have a blog that discusses worship trends and changes. Check it out at http://weblogs.calvin.edu/weblogs?/worship

 The Religion Newswriters Association has been added to our universe of web sites. Check out the several sites that are part of their organization at www.rna.org/ we’ll feature it in an upcoming issue. And don’t be fooled by the name – it is a great resource even if you are not a religion journalist.

News

The Valparaiso Project announces June 1, 2006 as the application deadline for the final round of Practice Grants. See http://www.practicingourfaith.org/news.html for details.

The second edition of Craig Dykstra's Growing in the Life of Faith includes a study guide by Syd Hielema, a new foreword by Dorothy C. Bass, and a new preface by the author. Check out the book at http://www.practicingourfaith.org/bookstore.html

New Research on the Role of a Parents' Religion in Talking to Their Teens about Sex
Religiously active parents are not as likely to talk to their teenage children about sex and birth control as they are to talk about the morality of adolescent sex, according to an article recently published in The Sociological Quarterly (Volume 46, pages 79-105) by National Study of Youth and Religion Co-Investigator Mark D. Regnerus, at the University of Texas at Austin. The article, "Talking about Sex: Religion and Patterns of Parent-Child Communications about Sex and Contraception," examines the effects of parental religiosity on the frequency of parent-child discussions about sex, sexual morality, and birth control.

The Tech Tips section will include handy items of interest regarding web resources, techniques for Internet searching and browsing and other facts to facilitate doing ministry in our technological world.

Need a Kid Friendly Search Engine

Search Engine Watch periodically updates their reviews of kid-safe search engines, directories, and filters. Check out this great resource at http://searchenginewatch.com/links/article.php/2156191
This tip is from Neat New Stuff I Found This Week- a very interesting newsletter of resources on the web by a high-tech librarian. http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html

What do Spiders See?

Want to know what spiders (robotic search engine programs) see when they view your web pages, then visit
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Technology/tipssv.html and run your page through their program.

Give Your Browser a Good Midwinter Cleaning

Every time you visit a web site, you save a copy of the site on your computer. Get rid of these unnecessary files while also removing malware cookies and speeding up your computer with a few simple steps. Right click on the Internet Explorer icon on your desktop, Select Internet Properties, then choose Delete cookies, Delete Files (also click the box to remove all offline content), and Clear History and then click OK. You can do the same thing in the browser under Tools and then Internet Options.

BE SAFE, remember to update the virus definitions, programs and operating system on your computer!

About InSites into American Religion:

InSites is a quarterly E-newsletter designed to educate the public about the web resources from religion institutes and projects related to the initiatives in religion of the Lilly Endowment, Inc. This is a joint project of Scott Thumma, Hartford Seminary and Joe Coalter, Union Theological Seminary & Presbyterian School of Christian Education.  Scott Thumma is the newsletter editor.

An abbreviated version of the e-newsletter is distributed quarterly via email.  If you would like to receive this email please send a subscription email to InSites@hartsem.edu and request either the html or text version.  An Adobe pdf version of the newsletter is available online for printing and distributing.  To open a pdf document you must have the free Adobe reader installed on your computer.  Download the program at  http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.   Everyone is free to print and distribute the newsletter.  Permission to excerpt and reprint portions of the newsletter content is hereby given.

Send an email to InSites@hartsem.edu for more information about the newsletter or to offer suggestions and feedback.

An archive of previous issues is available at the Resources for American Christianity web site at www.resourcingchristianity.org

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