No More 'Church As Usual,' New Study Says

Sunday morning worship service is no longer "church as usual," according to the latest National Congregations Study (NCS) conducted by Duke University.

In a decade long trend, American religion is straying away from "an emphasis on belief and doctrine" and is moving toward an emphasis on "experience and emotion."

In a three-part study, the authors of NCS found that there is a "search for a least-common-denominator kind of worship in a time of ever less salient denominationally specific liturgical and theological content."

What this means is that in the last 17 years churches have dropped the organ, bulletin, and choirs and traded them in for worship bands, sermon notes, and shouting "amen."

At the same time, more spontaneous elements are on the rise. Hearing testimony from members is up 7 percent, and jumping or shouting is up 8 percent.

The study also revealed an increasing trend toward informality. People are less likely to dress formally for church and are more likely to use first names when addressing church members, rather than addressing them by a title such as "Mr. or  Mrs., Doctor or professor."

Ethnic diversity among pastoral leaders has increased, but the "gender picture" is much different.

"In 2012, women served as senior or solo pastoral leaders in only 11 percent of congregations, with these congregations containing just 6 percent of the people who attend religious services," the study explained.

The "face" of the American Church is now more ethnically diverse. Congregations have steadily become more diverse since 1998.

"The percentage of people attending congregations in which no ethnic group constitutes at least 80 percent of the regular attendees increased from 15 percent in 1998 to 20 percent in 2012," the study noted. "This is a steady and notable increase in the percent of congregations in which no one group has an overwhelming majority of the people."

The study also said that congregations are no longer affiliating with a specific denomination.

"The number of congregations that aren't affiliated with a denomination rose from 18 percent in 1998 to 24 percent in 2012. White evangelical (30 percent) and black Protestants congregations (25 percent) have the highest rate of non-denominationalism."

The study could not pinpoint a reason as to why the church is changing and worship is on the rise, but the authors believe the changes aren't over yet. 

"We are not in a position to sort all this out," they said. "Whatever the causes, informal worship has increased in American congregations, and its rise does not seem to have peaked."