Where Have All the People Gone?
From 1880 to 1960, about 6 percent of people in the United States were Methodists, members of groups now part of the United Methodist Church. From 1960 to 2008, U.S. Methodists declined by a quarter, from 10,648,000 to 7,932,000, and now comprise just a little less than 3 percent of Americans. Presbyterians in 2006 numbered only 56 percent of what they were in 1960. In 1960 there were just fewer than 60,000 Moravians in the Northern and Southern Provinces (which includes all Canadian Moravians except those in Labrador); in 2006, we were at 69 percent of that, just over 41,000.
This general pattern is true for many denominations, especially denominations often called “mainline,” those bodies that have, with varying degrees of energy, supported a formally educated clergy, accepted biblical criticism, sought to apply the gospel to social structures as well as individual life, worked with other denominations. (Moravians have been on the conservative end of the mainline continuum; for example, few Moravians marched with Martin Luther King, Jr.) Mainline groups have also seen a severe decline in the proportion of congregational budgets going to regional or national denominational offices — sometimes over unhappiness with actions of the denomination, more often just to spend it closer to home — and a resulting reduction in national staff. While this decline appears to have slowed in the last decade, we are never going to return to the patterns of the 1960s.
The Northern Province has never had a large staff, but it is smaller now than in the past. For example, 20 years ago we had two full-time staff in Christian education; for more than a decade we have had only part-time staff in one district. The Southern Province in a September mini-synod approved new structure plans that may well result in reduced staff.
Is there a simple explanation for these sweeping changes? The last half century has been a time of enormous change in matters great and small. We see not only more empty Sunday school classrooms, but more bestsellers on atheism, more unmarried couples living together; we see fewer neckties, fewer newspapers, fewer family dinners. Part of these changes has been a much more individualistic stance toward all institutions. Children do not as easily adopt the convictions, attitudes, and habits (including Christian faith) of their parents. If churches see themselves, or are seen by others, mainly as signs of tradition, “the ways things are,” they probably are not doing well.
Some have blamed denominational labels. Of the largest 100 congregations in the United States, only half have a denominational connection, and many of these downplay it. If churches see themselves, or are seen by others, mainly as maintainers of denominational heritage or rely on that heritage to draw people, they probably are not doing well.
A central passion and mark of the renewed Moravian Church was been world mission. The maturing and independence of former mission areas and the implicit universalism (the assumption that, in the end, God welcomes everybody) of our culture have certainly affected that identity. What is our new passion, or the new form of our passion for mission?
Many analysts have said that only churches that are socially and theologically conservative are growing. Some larger conservative churches are growing because people want larger churches with more choice of activities and educational programs than many smaller congregations — like the average Moravian congregation — can offer. Many conservative congregations are growing because they are clear about what they believe and stand for, something more life-giving than just being the church of our fathers and mothers.
While there are no silver bullets, some factors have seemed to be
clues to vital mainline congregations:
• Welcoming. No dress
code. Welcoming the ideas, experiences, and gifts of new people, not
just expecting them to fit in. Giving people responsibility right
away.
• Confidence that God is at work. Asking how God is
working. Hearing testimony in worship and other settings of how God is
experienced in family life, workplace decisions, community issues. Not
being afraid to mention God. Listening for God’s new messages.
• Rediscovering tradition. Not just customs, but a way of life. North
American Moravians in several cities are struggling to express today the
Moravian tradition of intentional community. With Moravians in Costa
Rica and India, some Moravians are living new traditions of Moravian
music. The North Dakota Mission Society finds God’s work not only in
traditional mission areas but on the post-Katrina Gulf Coast and in
facing local needs.
Let us not fear the future, but try to discover where God is leading us.
