Having a racially diverse congregation offers a good path toward local church growth, according to a new comprehensive study of The United Methodist Church. What’s more, the study has found that racially diverse congregations are more likely to have better attendance and membership growth, especially if they’re in predominantly white neighborhoods.
Those are among key findings of a new study published recently by a team of scholars led by Kevin D. Dougherty, Ph.D., associate professor of sociology at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. The study was published in the journal Social Forces.
“This is a startling contrast to previous research that reported multiracial congregations are less stable,” said Dougherty in a press release from Baylor University.
“Overall, our understanding of racial diversity and congregational participation remains ambiguous,” said co-author Gerardo Martí, Ph.D., L. Richardson King Professor of Sociology at Davidson College, in the press release. “In this study, we consider: What does the history of demographic change in local churches and their neighborhoods tell us about the potential for congregational survival over time?”
The study compares U.S. Census data from 1990 through 2010 with the meticulous local-church records compiled annually by the UMC through its regional units known as annual conferences. The research team, which includes Todd W. Ferguson, Ph.D, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, studied data from more than 20,000 United Methodist congregations.
Collected official statistics
Dougherty said his team was provided access to United Methodist data in cooperation with Mark McCormick, a researcher for the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry who obtained data from the General Council on Finance and Administration in Nashville, Tenn. GCFA is the official repository of United Methodist statistics, compiled in an annual document called the “General Minutes.”
“To researchers those annual reports are priceless treasures to have,” Dougherty said. “The United Methodist Church keeps accurate and consistent records on race and attendance, which it started collecting in the late 1980s.”
According to the Baylor press release, U.S. congregations haven’t kept pace with the changing racial composition of the country. Census data predict that a majority of U.S. population will be “nonwhite” by 2035. Added to the demographics, transportation advances and voluntary attendance give people more options for participating in religious communities, the Baylor release stated. However, a recent Gallup survey showed that for the first time in U.S. history, the percentage of Americans engaged in a church, synagogue or mosque has dropped to less than half of the population.
Kevin Dougherty
Kevin Dougherty, Ph.D.
Dougherty, the Baylor scholar, lamented the Gallup results. “Congregations are can be important spaces to address social problems including related to race and ethnicity,” he said. “Fewer people in congregations means a reduced potential of these sacred spaces to address historic inequalities tied to race and ethnicity.”
Furthermore, stated the Baylor release, “while neighborhoods are generally becoming more diverse, congregations are not. Only one in four American adults attends a multiracial congregation, defined as one in which no single racial or ethnic group has more than 80 percent representation. Methodist churches with a higher percentage of whites have had increasingly lower average attendance over time.”
The United Methodist Church has experienced membership decline since it was formed in 1968 by the merger of The Methodist Church with the Evangelical United Brethren Church. U.S. membership currently totals around 6 million adherents. GCFA predicted in 2019 that U.S. membership would fall below the majority of the UMC’s worldwide 12-million membership by 2020.
Among other influences, geographic region and population size influence U.S. congregational attendance, stated the press release. Contrary to assertions that church attendance is stronger in the UMC’s theologically conservative Southeastern and South Central regions, the study showed that United Methodist churches in the Midwest and West had higher attendance during the 20-year study period. Churches in more populated neighborhoods also had higher attendance.
Study had three hypotheses
The Baylor press release cited three hypotheses and findings from the study:
- First, church growth experts have said that racial uniformity in congregations results in higher attendance. The study’s findings don’t support this hypothesis. The data showed instead that more racially diverse United Methodist congregations experience higher attendance.
- Second, experts have posited that racial uniformity in neighborhoods contributes to higher congregational attendance. The study supported this hypothesis. United Methodist churches located in all-white neighborhoods had more people attending worship services than Methodist churches in racially mixed or predominantly non-white neighborhoods.
- Third, experts say that a congregation will have higher attendance when its racial composition matches that of its neighborhood. The Baylor study contradicted this hypothesis. Instead, worship attendance was highest for racially diverse United Methodist churches in all-white neighborhoods and in racially uniform neighborhoods.
“The authors speculate that nonwhite or racially diverse Methodist churches may attract more participants because they offer an attractive alternative to typical white Methodist churches found in white neighborhoods,” the Baylor release stated.
In the interview Dougherty said: “The main takeaway from the study is the challenge to the idea is that churches grow by targeting one group, a practice known as the ‘homogenous unit principle.’ Our study shows that the ‘homogenous unit principle’ is not a successful strategy for The United Methodist Church. Attendance growth is more likely to occur in racially diverse Methodist churches .”
Dougherty said he hopes United Methodists will make good use of the study.
“We encourage discussions among religious leaders about how to take our findings and apply them. Our findings have implications for the choices that churches make to attract new participants. In other words, we hope churches will ask themselves, ‘How can we in our neighborhood and church use these findings to do ministry better?’”
Representatives of United Methodist agencies expressed interest in the Baylor study in response to an inquiry from United Methodist Insight.
Dana Lyles, PhD, director of multiethnic ministries for the General Board of Global Ministries in Atlanta, commented: “As our communities become more racially diverse, the UMC needs to ensure resources are available to meet the needs for congregations and annual conferences. Many annual conferences and congregations are unaware of resources and materials that are available for multiethnic/racially diverse congregations. I believe this trend will continue of higher attendance rates of diverse congregations, and annual conferences need to make resourcing congregations a priority.”
Dawn Wiggins Hare, general secretary of the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women: "The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women was not aware of this study done by Baylor University, but we are grateful for their findings. We recognize that women make up a majority of worshippers in most congregations and therefore find this study a compelling indicator of the growing diversity of women who participate in the life of the church. GCSRW is mandated by The Book of Discipline to challenge The United Methodist Church for full and equal participation of women in all levels of leadership of the church. GCSRW and our board recently committed to intentional intersectionality in all of our work. We hope our intersectionality work will build upon Baylor University's findings. All women are vital leaders within our denomination, and we hope to support them at all levels of leadership as The United Methodist Church grows in vitality, mission, and ministry as these women leaders share their gifts, talents, and spiritual gifts to our local churches."
Sharon Dean, director of communications for the General Council on Finance and Administration: “Current staff weren’t aware of this study because the data were collected some time ago. In our role to gather and dispense statistical data, we have not drawn conclusions based on these findings that will impact our work. When calculating apportionments, the Economic Advisory Committee does use some of the data GCFA collects, but they have not used data such as this research has done.”
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011. A version of this article appeared previously on Baptist News Global.