Great (and Not So Great) Expectations in Worship May 10, 2009
Posted by Dan R. Dick in Congregational Life, The United Methodist Church, worship.Tags: Christian worship, The United Methodist Church
42 comments
Among my greatest disappointments, not being able to follow-through on the UM Worship Patterns project is near the top. I have not engaged in a more interesting — and potentially helpful — project in all my time in research. This article is a companion to Theology of Worship? and Preacher Feature and wraps up the trilogy of summaries from this brief study.
The central question at the heart of this work is: “What do people expect to happen in worship?” We looked at the question from both the worship leader’s perspective as well as the person in the pew. It touches on other significant question’s such as , “Why do we offer worship?” “Why do people come to worship?” and “What effect does worship have on people’s lives and faith development?” Over 5,500 people participated in this project from 2000-2008 — 5,419 laity and 227 clergy from all five US jurisdictions, and representing accurate demographics across race, age, and gender. (Note: efforts were made to reflect the social demographics of the United States, not the demographics of The United Methodist Church. This means ours sample is younger, less female, and much more racially diverse than the average United Methodist congregation, but more accurately resembles “the real world.”)
