Age and Life Experiences Product Three Types of Churchgoers
The religious fanfare in America is overwhelmingly Christian. There appears to be a major increase of interest in spirituality. However, there is a vast difference in the devoutness of churchgoers in frequency of church attendance. The manner in which these individuals attend church is influenced by their ages and also whether or not they have endured difficult life situations. After attending a few church services, one becomes very aware of the various types of attendees. There are three types of churchgoer categories: the Never- Miss-a-Service Churchgoers, the Show-Up for Sunday Morning Service Churchgoers, and lastly, but certainly not the least, Holiday Churchgoers.
The first group in these categories is the Never-Miss-a-Service Christians. They consider themselves the bedrock of the Christian faith. Their lives are centered on following Jesus Christ. Furthermore, it is unacceptable to just attend the typical Sunday morning and evening services. This group is involved in every aspect of church functions.
For example, on Sunday morning they get to church in time for Sunday school and are part of the praise and worship. They are the first to greet newcomers to the church and handle the prayer requests. For them, the middle of the week service, which is typically held on Wednesday, is just as important as Sunday morning services. If there is a revival scheduled for everyday of the week, they are in attendance. These individuals consistently donate ten percent of their incomes to their churches: a practice known as tithing. Not paying tithes is not an option; tithes take priority over their bills and are paid out of any income they recei...
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...ot central to their lives. They tend to be single or live with a significant other. The need for the sanctity of marriage is not necessary. Sexual orientation could be heterosexual, homosexual, or bi-sexual; it would depend on what fits their lifestyles. They tend to live by a blurred version of “the Golden Rule,” which means they focus more on being a good person than on God. Although many people identify themselves under the umbrella of Christianity, these same individuals have varying opinions of how often they should attend church. Christian church attendees can be divided into three classifications:
Never-Miss-a-Service Churchgoers, the Show-Up for Sunday Morning Churchgoers, and the Holiday Churchgoers. Often individuals fall within these classifications depending on their ages and whether or not they have experienced past hardship.
We all know how it is to go on church on sunday but what about those who don’t go and maybe don’t believe? In a part of their heart or soul they still keep jesus with them because they know he listens and that even though they might have changed as well they have a purpose. Being a believer or a non-believer doesn’t mean that their is secrets everyone wishes to overcome about where even jesus came from and how this all
Parishioners often ask me if there is really any difference between United Methodist and the Baptists down the road. The answer, “quite a lot,” generally surprises them. When they ask me to explain, I often point them in the direction of our polity and the theology it reflects.
“About 270,000 religious congregations in the US have combined annual revenue of $80 billion. Slightly more than 50 percent of Americans belong to a religious congregation. In terms of membership, the largest faiths in the US are Catholic (about 25 percent of the population); Baptist (16 percent); Methodist (7 percent); Lutheran (5 percent); Presbyterian (3 percent); Pentecostal (2 percent); and Episcopalian (2 percent). Church membership statistics are notoriously unreliable.”(Hoover’s 2008)
Southland Christian Church, one of several worship centers in the United States that has earned the moniker “Six Flags over Jesus,” is Lexington’s largest megachurch. With a weekly attendance of 8,000 people and an operating budget that supports a staff of over eighty members, Southland far exceeds most U.S. congregations in terms of financial resources and social clout. In recent years, popular and scholarly studies have attempted to situate the megachurch movement within a broad cultural context. Although the majority of these analyses dispute the precise definition of a megachurch, most distinguish these multiplex sanctuaries from smaller worship communities by using the same criteria—i.e. weekly attendance, campus acreage, annual budget, etc.—that megachurches themselves draw on to represent their own success. [2] However, the essence of a megachurch is not its large buildings, but rather the theology of consumption that informs its programming.[3] In this way, a megachurch ethos has infiltrated even the smallest congregations in the United States and has helped to solidify Christianity’s inextricable connection to consumer capitalism. To those who see megachurches as symptomatic of a flawed Christianity, market-minded church growth confounds one of the faith’s oldest dualities, the contradiction of living in the world without conforming to its ways, as Paul puts it in Romans 12. Megachurches at once reject “the world” and participate in it by seeking to win the lost and wow the consumer at the same time.
Religious institutions have always been a fundamental piece of American culture, and their influence is evident in many aspects of American life. Especially during the 20th century, the spread of Christianity became more competitive as churches vied against one another to draw in new members. This was particularly evident in the development and growth of conservative Protestant groups. Protestant leaders responded to this competition for followers by developing radically new methods for the worship experience. They used their charisma and entrepreneurial spirit to send their messages to the masses. Protestant leader’s manipulation of these methods of outreach was able to attract many new members to the conservative protestant cause, and encouraged Americans to join these large groups of worship.
The church or Ecclesia, as it is called in the original Greek language, regardless of size, are the called out ones who assemble to represent the Body and life of Jesus Christ. They engage in meetings of praise, worship, and listening to the Word of God, which is taken from their manual called the Holy Bible, or the Scriptures; those bringing the message are considered to be the mouthpieces for God, and are typically called preachers (KJV, Eph 5.23-32). According to the Bible, the church, which includes the preachers, is to strive to exemplify the type of life that Jesu...
In the fifties, it was assumed of American families to be active Church goers in their respective religions; however, the idea of consensus didn’t quiet live up to its expectations. Families could all be the same through being religious, but still remain separate by believing in different religions. While the idea of consensus was certainly playing a role in that all people were religious, the safe conflict of being different still remained. Goodwin discusses in her book that everyone in her neighborhood was religious, and that her neighbors were active in attending Church services as was her family as well being Catholic. In general, religion laid out how people should behave in a black and white fashion in order to achieve salvation; however, the rules didn’t always match up with what a person wanted to do. For exa...
...urgical calendar the weekly estimated attendance of churchgoers can range from around 1,500-2,000. Out of those numbers there are currently about 1,200 registered parishioners.
Instead of adopting the ways of popular culture, the Church should show the world a more excellent way. Instead of retooling Sunday to render it in synch with Monday through Saturday, the Church, in its proclamation and in its making of disciples, should offer a counter-cultural model of living obedience, seeking to transform what believers and unbelievers experience during the week by what happens to them and around them on Sunday.
It is apparent that the issues are similar at Willow Creek and New Hope, as both have experienced great growth. They are addressing these issues by adding additional services and by assignment of small groups or small ministries to meet their congregation's needs. They have been successful in addressing the issue based on each church's individual needs. Willow Creek has added services to accommodate the service seekers or the un-churched. New Hope attempts to match congregation member's needs through joining auxiliaries or other ministries of the church.
In an age when culture continues to lower standards of intellect, Marva Dawn makes compelling observations and suggestions for the Church to rethink its strategy on impacting society. How do we evangelize without weakening the message of what we are communicating? The majority of her text focuses on the worship environment generally, but later she focuses on music, preaching, and liturgy specifically. According to Dawn, a gathering of believers should emphasize God as the subject and object of worship, challenge each individual to grow in godly character, and accentuate the community of believers (not only in the room, but throughout history as well). Through this grid, she encourages leaders and participants to evaluate each worship element.
In 2000, Christians made up the majority of the population in America. Shown by the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS)...
I find most interesting that the Baptist denomination tends to be very traditional, but slowly they are becoming less strict in their ways. They are not part of a large organization; each church is free to choose their own type of worship and who is allowed to be part of the staff. Their views on the Bible are straight forward, believing that the Bible is the word of God, by God and it should be treated as such. Baptists use the Bible as a guide of how to live ones life and what their stance should be on controversial issues. In their beginnings, the Baptists were a small denomination, but through evangelism they have grown into one of the largest denominations in the United States.
into a richer experience of worship and a more effect life of service" (Crabb, 1977, p.31). The method to establishing an
I’ve met many people who say they’re Christians but don’t really exhibit the Christian attitude. They don’t try to have a loving or patient attitude or try to spread God’s word to others. There are some who also don’t go to church. Personally, I think some of these trends have reasons. Some of the “non-dedicated” Christians may still be learning how to properly communicate God’s word. Also, attending church is not required. Faith in God is what truly makes one a Christian. There may be some people who don’t have true faith in God, but, as I said before, we should force feed God onto them. If they truly desire God, then God will go to them.