03.07.02 - National Church Life Survey: New findings released on why people don't go to church.
From National Church Life Survey.
Around 70% of Australians identify with a Christian denomination. Yet fewer than 20% claim to attend church monthly or more often. Why don't Australians attend church more often? New research from NCLS Research and Edith Cowan University, Perth, throws light on this question. Some key findings include:
There is no single reason to explain why people do not go to church:
When asked what discourages them from going to church, people give a wide variety of responses. The most common responses have to do with finding worship services boring or unfulfilling (42%), the beliefs and moral views of the churches (35%) and not seeing any need to go to church (31%). Dr John Bellamy, of NCLS Research, says that "Like most social phenomena, there is a range of factors that can influence why people do or do not attend church."
Religious beliefs are a very important factor:
As would be expected, people who do not have conventional Christian beliefs are less likely to attend church. For instance, while 84% of frequent church attenders affirm that Jesus' resurrection from the dead was an actual historical event, only 54% of infrequent attenders and 26% of non-attenders affirm this.
But it is more than a matter of Christian beliefs. There are other widely held beliefs that are negatively related to a church involvement. These include the idea that there can never be absolutely clear guidelines on what is good or evil, that different religions and philosophies have different versions of the truth, and that life is made sense of largely in terms of the here and now.
Shifts in community values have had an effect:
There have been marked cultural changes since the 1960s that have created gaps between churches and the wider community. Some moral issues where there are wide gaps include attitudes on abortion, euthanasia, and sexual issues. Dr Philip Hughes of Edith Cowan University notes that "The under-representation of young adults in churches can be largely explained by cultural changes."
Relationships are key:
Relationships are strongly linked to patterns of church involvement. Most non-attenders (60%) and a quarter of infrequent attenders (26%) say that they have no close friends who are church attenders. This compares with 8% of frequent church attenders. The church attendance pattern of one's spouse or partner is even more strongly linked; very few non-attenders say that their spouse is a church attender.
Whether a person went to church as a child is not as strongly linked to their church attendance than are current relationships. However the research also shows that with each succeeding generation, children are less likely to have an involvement with the churches. Dr Bellamy commented, "It is likely that the current generation of primary-school-aged children will be the first where the majority will have no memory of a church involvement at some stage in their upbringing."
A lack of time is less important:
There is a common perception that people are just too busy to go to church these days, with all the different kinds of leisure activities available, along with increased time given to work. The research shows that busyness, work commitments, involvement in sport and other competing leisure activities does not have a lot of influence on church attendance patterns.
Responses from the churches
The development of innovative forms of church life has been one response to these issues. Examples include café style churches, and specialist ministries to the surfing culture, the arts community and inner-urban dwellers. Geoff Boyce, chaplain at Flinders University, Adelaide, has been developing experimental worship which began with elements of the cultural language of the Dance Club, creating multi-media environments, that stimulate connection with God in open, non-directive ways. Other shapes for worship have also emerged. Geoff says, "Many people feel like cultural strangers in the mainstream church. We are appropriating metaphors from our lives in the world as vehicles for exploring our lives in God".
Organised by members of the Catholic Church, Spirituality in the Pub is one example of how churches are creating forums beyond a church environment, to discuss faith and values and to think about life's meaning. "If you want to assist people to develop their faith life, you have to be prepared to meet them where they are", said Michael Kelly, one of those involved in setting up Spirituality in the Pub in 1997. "Communicating the faith must start with a recognition of what questions people are asking rather that a determination to tell them what I know."
Other churches have sought to tap into community networks and build relationships. For instance, the Baptist Church in Dural, Sydney, operates a popular sports centre that incorporates a church on the site. Keith Jobberns, senior pastor of the church, comments, "In building the sports facility we wanted to better serve our community. Sport is such an important part of Aussie culture and we wanted to be involved in a creative way helping to meet the recreational needs in out area. We also wanted to develop a community based around sport that meet emotional and spiritual needs in helpful ways."
John Bellamy, Philip Hughes and Ruth Powell
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