Podcast Episode #189
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We cover seven worship service trends to watch for in the future. These are taken from the recent megachurch report from Leadership Network; you can find the entire megachurch report at LeadNet.org/megachurch.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
- One major positive of multi-site churches is that these churches can have a presence in multiple communities.
- Churches are looking to remodel and update existing worship centers instead of building new ones.
- Some church leaders are deciding not to have choirs to free people up to do other ministry.
- Missions giving does not distract from regular giving, it typically enhances it.
The seven worship trends we cover today are:
- The average number of locations a multisite church has increased from 2.5 to 3.5 per church.
- The median seating size for main sanctuaries has fallen from 1,500 seats to of 1,200.
- The use of organ used often or always in worship services fell from 28% to just 18% of all megachurches.
- Having choirs perform in services often or always declined from 43% to 35% of congregations.
- An increasing percentage of churches say that Communion is always or often a part of worship, rising from 51% in 2010 to 57% presently.
- Median % of weekly worship attendees to total participants fell from 96% in 2005 to 82% in 2015.
- Churches with greater emphasis on missions see higher financial giving.
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Feedback
If you have a question you would like answered on the show, fill out the form on the podcast page here at ThomRainer.com. If we use your question, you’ll receive a free copy of I Will.
Dr Rainer,
I enjoy your podcasts and appreciate your insights on trends and leadership topics. Thank you for sharing these thoughts with us.
In this podcast, you mention a possibility that some churches who discontinue choirs are doing so to allow those people to use their volunteer time in other areas of the church. That is an interesting theory and I can see the logic in it. However, I have a couple of follow up questions if you have a moment to address them:
1. Giftedness/calling – we as pastors teach every week that people should serve within their giftedness and calling. How then is a person gifted/called to a choir ministry to serve if there is no choir? Now I understand many churches do not have the physical infrastructure (stage space), and appropriate leadership personnel to sustain a choir. But for those who do, is it a good idea for the senior leadership to take away this option of serving to ask people to serve where they are not gifted?
2. This is more of an observation than a question. The majority of the people in the choir at my church serve in at least one other ministry, many serve multiple ministries. For these people, they have shared with me that choir is as much a ministry to themselves as it is for others. It is in choir where they get a deeper connection with an affinity group and serve at the same time. Even though they are very busy with church life, they make choir a priority because of the benefits they receive while serving the Lord in worship and the congregation in encouragement. Again, this is simply my experience at my church.
Sincerely,
Bryan Patrick
I have also felt that people are gifted to sing – choirs, solos – or play instruments, which are mentioned in the Bible many times in worshiping God. Our Church has always been very musical; however, at this point, we have no specials, choirs, etc. We have keyboards, guitars, and drums. We do not even have a piano in the Church anymore. The thought now is that it isn’t a show, but a collective time of praise and worship. Many really feel that it is a ministry that God has given them, and I don’t think it should be taken away just because the times are changing. I have been very flexible and open-minded – even play one of the keyboards most of the time, but I think that we are shutting off people from their God-given abilities to help us worship in a variety of ways!
The pipe organ’s days are really numbered as the torch is passed to millenials. They are disappearing left and right.
It really is the case that the worship war is over. While there will always be some traditional music churches it is becoming clear that there will be a lot of “mopping up” in the next decade as that style fades out. In churches with both styles the modern music services are fast eclipsing the traditional music services. It was a war of attrition and youth had time on its side.