Mega-Sermon+Entrepreneurs = Clericalism+Consumerism

Sermons and Church-going: Are Non-attenders

Reacting to Clericalism and Consumerism?

Major Reasons Why People Attend Church	Protestant		Catholic		Differ
	%		%
Sermons that teach about scripture	83		62		-21
Sermons that help connect religion to own life	80		67		-13
Spiritual programs for children/teens	68		63		-5
Community outreach / volunteer opportunities	61		56		-5
Dynamic religious leaders	53		47		-6
Social activities	49		48		-1
Choir or other spiritual music	44		29		-15
Based on those who attend church monthly or more often
People Who Attended Before but Not Now	Major	Minor		Not
Was the following a Factor in Non-attendance	%	%		%
You prefer to worship on your own	44	21		34
You don't like organized religion	36	25		37
You aren't very religious	33	32		33

Adapted from Gallup: Sermon Content Appeals to Churchgoers

Reactions to Gallup here, here, and here.  Music lovers were not amused!

Both Catholics and Protestants put sermons at the top of their list of reasons for attending church. Is this a good thing? Sermons emphasize the attender’s role as a consumer rather than as a doer. Especially if they are long, they emphasize the clergy’s rather than the laity’s role in worship.

According to the Pew Religious Landscape Study, while 35% of Americans attend church weekly, 55% of Americans pray daily. Among Americans who attend church once or twice monthly or even just a few times a year, 50% still pray daily. Among of those who seldom or never go to church, 25% still pray daily.  Therefore we should not be surprised that many who do not attend church weekly actually prefer to worship on their own.  Are they also reacting to the clericalism and consumerism of worship culture?    

At Commonweal Thomas Baker interviews Chris Lowney on Why We Need an EntrepreneurialChurch  The current issue of America provides a very good article on a large Catholic parish which has adopted much of the Evangelical mega-church model, Lessons on Evangelization From the Largest Parish in the United States.   Is this the Catholic future? I hope not!

Worship Service Data from National Congregations Study

Three waves (1998, 2006, 2012) of the National Congregations Study studied random samples of congregations. Data are reported by a key informant such as pastor, etc. These include extensive questions about the most recent main service. The following tables are as viewed by the number of people in the pews not by the number of parishes, i.e. responses have been weighted by size of congregation.

Length of Sermon at Most Recent Main Worship Service
RELIGIOUS TRADITION	10 minutes or less	11 to 20 Minutes	21 to 40 Minutes	More than 40 Minutes
Roman Catholic	52%	44%	3%	1%
White Mainstream	7%	69%	22%	1%
White Evangelical	1%	13%	65%	20%
Black Protestant	<1%	12%	55%	33%

More data at National Congregations Study: Religious Tradition by Length of Sermon.

Clearly the White Evangelical Tradition (which includes Conservatives and Fundementalists) along with Black Protestants have the longest sermons, mostly they are 30 plus minutes. Roman Catholics appear to try to keep the sermon under 10 minutes while White Mainstream (including Liberal and Moderate) Protestants are in the 10-20 minute range. These differences shape the rest of the worship service.

RELIGIOUS TRADITION	Service Length			Choir		Social Minutes before/after
	<60	<90	>90	1998	2012	0-10	11-20	21-30	30+
Roman Catholic	73%	27%	1%	70%	69%	27%	38%	22%	13%
White Mainstream	53%	45%	2%	61%	37%	6%	21%	29%	45%
White Evangelical	24%	56%	20%	44%	35%	6%	32%	31%	32%
Black Protestant	4%	23%	73%	76%	80%	8%	34%	28%	31%

The sermon greatly affects the length of service which averages near an hour for Roman Catholics, somewhat longer for White Mainline Protestants, close to 90 minutes for Evangelicals and over 90 minutes for Black Protestants.  

Singing (congregational and choir) averages 20 minutes across traditions. So Catholics have almost double the singing versus  listening to the sermon; White Mainstream congregations experience about equal sermons and singing/  Evangelicals experience a sermon almost double the length of singing. Very different worship experiences
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Choirs that lead congregational singing offer a significant opportunity for the laity to shape worship services and make them truly worship by the people rather than by the clergy. Choirs, however, can become a clerical ministry substituting for the people. 

Choirs have declined in both White Conservative congregations (44% to 35%) and White Mainline congregations (61% to 37%) between 1998 and 2012.  Both Catholic parishes (70% to 69%) and Black Protestant (76% to 80%) have maintained a high level of choirs. The decline in choirs has produced only some decline in the amount of music (about 4 minutes). In other words, congregational singing remains important.

Catholic choirs should take note of what is happening among White Protestants. Emphasize the choir as leading congregational singing. Eliminate any “choir” Mass; recruit choirs for all Masses, practice in church for the 30 minutes before Mass, invite the people to come and listen. Never have more than one new song; always practice it with the people.  In one local parish this approach has produced high levels of participation by the people and membership in the choir.

Roman Catholics have a large deficit in socializing before and after services. White Mainstream Protestants are leaders in socializing. When I was on pastoral council the constant complaint we heard was that people came late to church, and left early (right after communion). My response was “give them reasons to come early and stay late!”  This is the area that we could improve the most without changing the rest of our worship service (since coming early and staying late is optional).

The Catholic Mega-Parish Example in America

The America article is very well done both on the website and in print. It recognizes that implementing the Evangelical model (30-50 minute sermon providing information for weekly small group meetings) would be a big problem for Catholics. We not only have the Eucharist, we have Scriptural readings that should be the focus of the sermon. Pope Francis model of a brief, three point, scripture based homily is all that is needed. He demands engagement with the problems of the world, but does not attempt to micromanage our thinking through small groups like the Evangelicals. Thank God!

Many diverse, small groups are essential. But avoid the implicit clericalism of top down management of the groups; and avoid the consumerism that sees some people are ministers and others are recipients. As Christians we are all here to help one another. Avoid all elitism, both the elitism that some in the church are more important than others, and the elitism that doing things with church approval is somehow better than just doing them. Christians ought to be forming small groups in their homes, their neighborhoods, communities and workplaces as well as in their parishes.

Mega-churches use all the impersonal social survey technology of the consumer market place. One might think that I, a social scientist, would approve? However, there is a far simpler more personal way. Turn the pastoral council of a dozen members into a research team. Have each member survey four persons a month. Ask five to ten open ended questions. (Open ended  responses produce more reliable and valid data than multiple choice). Give people the options of responding by e-mail, snail mail or phone (When I tested this, most responded by e-mail;  some liked to talk on the phone but appreciated having the questions beforehand).

Organize the 48 anonymous response for each question, publish them, and discuss them at open monthly Council meetings. A parish council should be able to engage about 500 members a year this way. This gives everyone in the parish a good idea of what other people of thinking, and potentially allows them to shape the parish. This survey encounter model does not depend upon the size of the parish.

If we can get rid of the clericalism and consumerism implicit in the mega-parish model, then economies of scale argue for some regional mega-parishes. Spread the chancery offices around the diocese at these mega-churches. Have the bishop and his staff spend their time traveling among them.      

Affirm All People Who Pray daily

Since many people pray daily parishes should have big signs "If you pray daily come worship with us this weekend." People who pray daily should be affirmed as religious people regardless of their weekend worship practices. Parishes should begin to see themselves as supporters of people who pray daily by providing enriched opportunities for them to develop prayer.

Within Catholicism there are many forms of prayer that could be promoted (e.g. lectio divina, meditation, examination of conscience, etc.) however very few of these are promoted at the parish level. A young priest at our mega-parish has developed Pray40Days which includes six forms of prayer, one per weekday: guided meditation, contemplative prayer, lectio divina, praying like a pirate, praying with  your senses, and scriptural relaxation. It is a beginning.

The Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours) with its major services of Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and the Office of Readings has been almost totally neglected since Vatican II. They do not require the presence of clergy. The rubrics allow much flexibility in adapting these services to pastoral situations (for example preaching by laity and women religious). A great deal of substitution is allowed in terms of hymns, antiphons, psalms, and readings. One can celebrate votive offices on non-feast weekdays.  The office only becomes inflexible at major feasts like Christmas, Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost.

One can construct a very standardize service in which everything can be sung from memory like Benediction once was, or one can have a varied services that change day to day and  week to week. Historically the office as celebrated by religious was very different from the parish office. So we should develop forms of the divine office that suitable for homes, small groups, neighborhoods, associations, and civic engagement groups. The office can be shaped into forms that fit well with non-Catholic Christians, e.g. using materials for the Anglican and Orthodox traditions.

The bottom line in our worship whether in the parish or in life should be to avoid clericalism, i.e. over dependence upon the clergy, and a consumerism that regards some people as producers of worship and other people as consumers of worship.