Congregational Vitality among Evangelical Churches in Canada

Conclusion

With so many correlates of congregational vitality, which are the most important? The question is best answered by a statistical technique called stepwise regression, which removes those items that do not remain significant when all predictors are placed in the model. Basically, I entered all the correlates listed in the tables above and let this statistical technique remove the weaker predictors and leave the strongest ones. In the final model, I entered the ten strongest predictors with controls for denomination, region, and age of congregation. Here, in order, are the strongest predictors of the congregational vitality scale, our top ten. Remember that those items that are part of the scale are not included here, but are obviously important to vitality as they are used to measure it.

1. Missional – this is #1. If the pastor views his/her church as missional, this has the greatest positive effect on vitality of any item in our survey. Churches that are focused on their community and world are more vital according to the vitality scale;
2. The mission statement shapes current priorities and goals – the key question is not whether the church has a mission statement, but whether the mission statement is currently shaping the priorities and direction of the congregation. Churches with a clear and compelling purpose have greater vitality;
3. Percentage who give regularly – Obviously, a committed laity is key to congregational vitality, and financial giving is part of that commitment. Since many of our measures of average lay commitment are part of the vitality scale (percentage involved in small groups, percentage of men who volunteer) the percentage of attendees who give regularly comes in third;
4. A priority on building volunteer leadership – churches that are vital focus on lay development and discipleship, not only getting people in the pews. Lay participation and leadership is important, as several correlates above indicate;
5. Priority of a worship service that is oriented toward visitors – worship that is comfortable for visitors is positively related to vitality. Note that the worship service that attracts visitors may not be the only or primary worship service, but services that are comfortable to visitors promote vitality;
6. Percentage over age 65 – an aging congregation decreases vitality, even if having some seniors is good for a church. The point is churches with a healthy supply of young (and educated) adults tend to show greater vitality;
7. A time for laity to share testimony and prayer requests – this item predicts vitality, possibly because testimony encourages the congregation, and praying for individual needs helps people connect and feel cared for. It is also important to get laity visibly involved in worship and other areas of the church. Laity should serve according to their gifting;
8. Percentage college-educated – having college-educated laity is related to vitality, possibly because of their volunteerism and leadership capabilities (or capital). Again, the correlates of vitality indicate the importance of developing “people” resources over “material” resources;
9. Percentage aged 18–29 – As noted in #6 above, keeping and engaging young adults is important to vital congregations;
10. Evangelical – an evangelical identity is a positive connection to vitality, possibly because churches that were described as “evangelical” were evangelistic.

These top ten (and the rest of the correlates discussed above) indicate that vital churches are missional; they have healthy leadership that motivates laity toward a clear, shared purpose or vision; they are committed to developing their human resources; they successfully integrate young and educated adults; and they have vibrant worship that is comfortable for visitors. These findings are not surprising because they dovetail well with much larger studies, such as NCD or NCLS research.

What this “top ten” list is missing, like most studies in this area, is the importance of external factors. In previous research, I conducted face-to-face interviews with roughly 200 Christian clergy in the United States and Canada. From these interviews I noticed that evangelical pastors and leaders rarely spoke of local external factors, much less often than mainline Protestant or Catholic pastors/priests. They seemed to be less aware of local external factors. Mainline Protestant leaders looked into local demographics before starting a church or planning outreach strategies. They spoke of gathering information about local population growth, local immigration patterns, the race, age, education and income of the people in the community. In comparison, evangelical pastors and leaders knew less about community demographics. Of course, internal factors are important (as are spiritual considerations), but Evangelicals will do well to consider such external factors. In comparison to local demographics, evangelical leaders I have talked to are more aware of cultural issues (such as the increasing apathy towards institutional religion), and some national-level demographics (such as urbanization and immigration), which are also important. Local external factors would provide an important additional piece to understanding congregational vitality.

Judging from the emphasis placed on empowering leadership and a compelling missional vision in this and other studies, it is very possible that nothing is more important to congregational vitality than strong and healthy leaders. In light of clergy shortages among mainline Protestant and Catholic denominations, Evangelicals have been fortunate to have proportionally more pastors and Christian workers. However, shortages may be coming.6 All five of the denominational leaders we spoke to were concerned about future leadership. Pastors were aging and there are not enough new candidates to replace them. Leadership development is, or should be, the priority of congregations and denominations. Retaining present clergy is also crucial. Future congregational vitality depends on it.

​Footnotes:

(6)Hiemstra notes that evangelical churches are less likely to have fulltime staff and more likely to have part time or unpaid staff. This may indicate a growing shortage of clergy. See Hiemstra, 2011.