Churches Decline When They Abandon Traditional Membership Niche

May 23, 2001

University Park, Pa. -- Liberal mainline churches have lost conservative members because they have abandoned that traditional membership niche that they once served, according to sociologists.

"Our studies indicate six basic ideological niches into which churches fall, ranging from ultraliberal to ultraconservative. Most church attendees, regardless of social class, are moderates and conservatives who form the great middle of the membership bell curve," says Dr. Roger Finke, professor of sociology in Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts.

"Because their demand for different forms of religion is remarkably stable, Americans tend to either remain in or seek out churches that suit their niche," he notes. "Of course, this demand curve represents only those that are seeking a religion. There will always be some that don't seek out religious answers or solutions."

While church swapping occurs frequently in this country, people rarely swap niches. Instead, it is the churches themselves that shift from niche to niche, usually from conservative to liberal, the sociologist adds.

Finke is co-author of the recent book, "Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion," published by the University of California Press. His co-author is Dr. Rodney Stark, professor of sociology and comparative religion at the University of Washington.

As a religious group grows in numbers and acceptance, its "tension" or degree of separateness from secular society diminishes, and the church becomes yet another mainstream denomination. For a time, it ministers to a conservative and moderate niche, then, as it moves away from these larger niches to the smaller liberal niche, it stops growing, says the Penn State researcher.

"This happens for two reasons," Finke says. "First, large congregational size reduces a church's ability to monitor the loyalty of its members and swells the number of free-riders or members with little or no commitment. Second, the professionalization of clergy, while it results in better trained and educated ministers, often produces clergy with a more tepid religious commitment. Both of these factors pull down the initial level of religious ardor.

"As churches move from higher- to lower-tension niches, they will tend to accumulate at the liberal end of the spectrum. This growing number of organizations will attempt to serve a relatively static number of potential members who are notably lukewarm in their commitment. Consequently, low-tension churches will typically have declining memberships and will tend to disappear via mergers," Finke notes.

The researchers based their conclusions on the General Social Surveys from 1972 through 1994, coding 16,037 churchgoers according to their location along the continuum of religious belief: ultraliberal (.8 percent), liberal (18.4), moderate (31.5), conservative (35.1), strict (12.9) and ultrastrict (1.3). Their coding corresponds closely with the 3-category coding (liberal, moderate and fundamentalist) assigned by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), which conducted the GSS surveys.

The book also covers several other topics such as the supposed irrationality of religion, the failure of secularization to replace religion, the evolution of sects into churches, the marketplace or "economy" of religions in America and the role of Catholic orders in preserving the Catholic Church from Protestant-style fragmentation.

Finke notes that the mainline Protestant churches, at the time of their foundings, served a conservative and sometimes even an ultrastrict constituency. A classic example would be the Methodist Church, which began as a sect during the 18th century "Great Awakening" in England and was imported by the Wesleys to the American colonies. Famed for its camp meetings, American Methodism flourished in the 19th century, founded dozens of colleges and universities and in 1850 made up one-third of all churchgoers in the United States -- in that year, it had 117 members out of every 1,000 Americans.

"Throughout most of the 20th century, the Methodist clergy have pressed for increased `relevance' and liberalism while downplaying the core Christian doctrines of sin and salvation," says Finke. "Their success in doing so has been mirrored by a corresponding decline in membership, with the result that by 1990 only 36 out of 1,000 Americans were Methodists."

A measure of the malaise affecting the "lower-tension" or more liberal denominations is their sluggishness in creating new congregations and thus retaining their market share of believers. "The tiny Vineyard Christian Fellowship, with only 305 existing congregations in 1994, managed to plant as many new churches as did the huge United Methodist Church, which had more than 36,000 congregations," says the Penn State sociologist.

"Our data strongly suggest that niche preferences, more so than many churches, are quite stable, in that most people are in a denomination ideologically similar to the one to which they belonged at age 16," Finke adds.

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Contacts:

Paul Blaum (814) 865-9481 (o) pab15@psu.edu

Vicki Fong (814) 865-9481 (o) vfong@psu.edu

EDITORS: Dr. Finke is at (814) 865-6257 or at rfinke@psu.edu by email.