Increasing Church Attendance

A recent message from a church musician read: "I have been tasked, after my first job evaluation with the senior pastor and SPRC Chair, to increase attendance over the next year with the Contemporary Service I lead. What resources do we have available through the Discipleship Ministries that might help me in this quest?" In thinking over my response, I was struck by the implications of his question:

• He has received a "task" from the senior pastor and SPRC chair, assigning responsibility for increasing attendance to the musician. They are not satisfied with the attendance at this contemporary worship service and have given the musician — who has been on the job for just a year — one more year to turn it around.
  
• The musician will rely on "resources" to accomplish this. In other words, what music can he select, what prayers and Scriptures can he incorporate, what words and practices must he put into the worship bulletin that will result in increased attendance?

I must confess that his question caught me off-guard. It's the first time it's been asked of me, and I had no ready-made response. I'm not as surprised that he asked it as I am surprised at the task assigned to him by the pastor and SPRC chair. While we at Discipleship Ministries are not unconcerned with attendance of United Methodists in worship, it is not one of the goals set for our office by General Conference in The Book of Discipline nor by our own board of directors. Thus, we do not first ask ourselves, "What worship resources can we produce and make available that will increase attendance?" The big reason why this is so is that such a question leads to catering to the changing and self-centered wants, desires, and tastes, of individuals and leads to a consumerist view of worship rather than worship that is God-centered, God-directed, doctrinally sound, Wesleyan informed, and offered with joy and integrity.

Increasing attendance and influence is a worthy goal for all congregations, but I suggest it is not for planning and leading worship. I believe increased attendance comes as a result of many factors: preaching content, style, and effectiveness; a welcoming and invitational congregation; a congregational understanding of its mission and identity; an active evangelical outreach into the community; the nurturing of the people in small groups; regular and frequent observances of the sacraments and the means of grace; generous giving as an ongoing part of stewardship training; education and training for all ages; an appealing, inviting, and functional building; and many more. I further suggest that the task of increasing attendance is one that should fall on the entire congregation, but especially on the elected leadership of the congregation, as well as on the employed staff. If my list above of factors that affect church attendance is at all accurate, then surely the pastor must take the lead in this task rather than putting the responsibility on the church musician. Notice that I did not include worship and music style in my listing. They are missing, not because they are unimportant, but because I don't believe worship music should be selected based upon one's belief that it might increase attendance.

Having said all of that, here are some resources that anyone interested in increasing church attendance — or anyone involved in planning contemporary or alternative worship — should consider.

• Resources for Blended and Contemporary Worship and Music
  
• Contemporary Worship
  
• Contemporary and Emerging Music
  
  
• Music Downloads
  (Contemporary music is available throughout this section.)
  
• The Upper Room Worshipbook
• Newly revised (2006) for congregations making use of contemplative, sacramental, emergent, and ancient-future worship.
  
• Zion Still Sings
  This new songbook will be released by Abingdon Press in early 2007. It will include many contemporary, alternative, and new ethnic songs.

Increased attendance for the sake of bringing people into a life of faith and making disciples for the transformation of the world is a worthy goal. Selecting worship music because one thinks it might increase attendance is not.