{"id":23232,"date":"2016-02-16T06:00:27","date_gmt":"2016-02-16T11:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=23232"},"modified":"2016-02-15T23:41:14","modified_gmt":"2016-02-16T04:41:14","slug":"unintended-consequences-of-megachurches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/02\/unintended-consequences-of-megachurches\/","title":{"rendered":"Unintended consequences of megachurches"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The larger the group, the less the individual involvement. \u00a0That\u2019s a long-established finding of social science. \u00a0So what does that mean for very large churches? \u00a0New research has shown that those who attend megachurches are less involved in their congregation than those who attend smaller churches. \u00a0That may be obvious, but the researcher then raises a\u00a0disturbing question: \u00a0Has the rise of the megachurch thus contributed to the overall decline of religion in the United States?<\/p>\n

I am not attacking big churches. \u00a0It\u2019s natural for a congregation to want to become as big as possible, and many large congregations are quite orthodox. \u00a0But churches need to face up to this\u00a0data. \u00a0Are there other unintended consequences of megachurches? \u00a0Is there a way to counter them? \u00a0How might a big congregation increase individual involvement? \u00a0Or should big churches split into smaller congregations, once they reach a particular size?<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

From Michael Gryboski,\u00a0Megachurches Have Less Involved Members Than Smaller Congregations, Study Finds<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Members of large churches are less involved than those of smaller congregations, according to a recent study from Duke University.<\/p>\n

Research published last week by the American Sociological Association\u2019s journal Socius found, according to its abstract, \u201ca negative relationship between size and the probability of attendance for Conservative, Mainline, and black Protestants and for Catholics in parishes larger than 500 attenders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe addition of control variables does not change these patterns. These results support the theory that group cohesion lies at the heart of the size-participation relationship in churches,\u201d continued the abstract.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the rapid growth of megachurches in the United States, a negative relationship between size and frequency of attendance could serve to accelerate aggregate declines in attendance.<\/p>\n

The research was headed by David Eagle, a researcher at Duke\u2019s Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research based in Durham, North Carolina.<\/p>\n

In an interview with The Christian Post, Eagle explained that he became interested in this topic while serving as a pastor in Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also pastored at a time when leaders in my denomination really pushed church growth and argued that building big churches had the most promise of attracting non-Christians,\u201d said Eagle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was skeptical of this approach, and began to think that an emphasis on growth could lead to unintended consequences \u2014 things like creating a less involved membership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eagle also told CP that he \u201cwasn\u2019t all that surprised\u201d by the findings, noting that German sociologist Georg Simmel (1858-1918) \u201cargued that big groups create a less involved membership.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what I found really interesting was that the rapid increase in the number of really big churches might actually tie into what many have observed \u2014 the declining importance of religion and religious involvement in the US,\u201d continued Eagle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wondered if megachurches are a reflection of that \u2014 they provide places where people can go less frequently, whose comings and goings may not be noticed and where more staff means that they don\u2019t need to take on as major a volunteer role as they would in a smaller church.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Keep reading. . .]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The larger the group, the less the individual involvement. \u00a0That\u2019s a long-established finding of social science. \u00a0So what does that mean for very large churches? \u00a0New research has shown that those who attend megachurches are less involved in their congregation than those who attend smaller churches. \u00a0That may be obvious, but the researcher then raises […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,42],"tags":[488,1422,3860],"class_list":["post-23232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-social-science","tag-church-growth","tag-megachurches","tag-religious-decline"],"yoast_head":"\nUnintended consequences of megachurches<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The larger the group, the less the individual involvement. \u00a0That's a long-established 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