Long, but important:Survey finds many Christians don't understand worship
By TERRI JO RYAN Tribune-Herald staff writer
Many people who call themselves Christians and even go to weekly religious services are "clueless" when it comes to what worship means, according to a study by Christian pollster George Barna.
"There are many adults who go to church and don't know why they are there," said Barna, president of Barna Research Group Ltd. On Monday he presented the findings from custom research his firm conducted this summer for the "Music and the Church" conference, which continues at Baylor University through Wednesday. An opening audience of more than 500 people attended the first session of the Billy Ray Hearn Endowed Symposium on Christian Music in the McCrary Music Building.
Barna's data was derived from a nationwide telephone survey of 727 randomly selected adults who identified themselves as Christian, 601 senior pastors and 69 worship leaders. All participants were Protestants. ...
Forty-two percent of the regular church-goers agreed that the style of music shouldn't matter. Sixty-seven percent disagreed when asked if too many new songs were being introduced into their repertoire. Seventy-six percent said if their church suddenly switched musical genres, they would be sad but wouldn't leave over it — even though three in five say music was one of their prime factors in selecting a church in the first place.
"Are there really worship wars being waged in our churches?" Barna asked. Pastors told him that only 9 percent of the churches report "music-related" tensions, "which is much less than we've been led to believe," he said. However, of churches reporting any congregational conflicts, 90 percent of those disagreements are around music.
Congregants polled by researchers were split on the issue whether the pop praise music lacks the spiritual depth of the traditional hymns. Some 44 percent agreed that the contemporary fare was featherweight, while 45 percent disagreed.
Who tends to gravitate to what music? Barna said the survey showed that college graduates, whites and mainline Christians drift toward traditional music. Women, evangelicals, large churches and those 36 and older tend to like the blended approach. Gospel is most appealing to small congregations, black churches and the "non-evangelical, born-again" churches. Praise music is the sound of choice for Hispanic and evangelical congregations. Californians, those under age 36 and evangelicals like to groove to the rock/contemporary Christian music genre, he said.
Asked how they selected what music to use, 41 percent of worship leaders responded they want to keep the "customers satisfied;" 33 percent said they select it on the "quality of the product," i.e., how well a song facilitates the act of worship; and 11 percent cited marketing as a chief factor, using music to attract new members.
Nine in 10 congregations still use hymnals, while four in 10 print songs in the program. One in three uses an overhead projector to put the lyrics on the big screen, while one in four churches now use a computer display for presentations.
Barna said he was concerned about the results that pointed to a "worship-challenged" America.
One in three adult regular attendees said they have never experienced God's presence while in church. Two in three were unable to describe to the survey-takers what worship is. Less than half reported that worship was a top priority in their lives. Only one in four described worship as something people do for God.
Americans make worship services a self-centered activity, he said. Of the reasons given to researchers on why they go to church, 47 percent were self-focused, 29 percent were God-focused and 2 percent had no focus at all, Barna said.
"We view ourselves first and foremost as consumers," he said. "Americans are always looking for a deal," or what's in it for them, he added.
Only one in four ministers put worship as his or her top priority, Barna said. Surprising to him, and his audience, was the revelation that pastors of "mainline" denominations were twice as likely as pastors of charismatic churches to cite worship as a top priority, and liberal pastors were twice as likely as their more conservative colleagues to say worship is important.
Barna, reflecting on his report, said that just because there was a relatively high satisfaction rate and low frustration rate indicated by the research, it doesn't mean all is well in the churches. "It means most people don't know what worship is," he said.
Randall Bradley, director of the Baylor Center for Christian Music Studies, said "prophetic voices" are needed in the field of Christian music, people who would work to reconcile the traditionalists with the contemporary Christian music fans. "The evil one is too pleased to see the bickering and back-biting and disparaging remarks."
"God is surely big enough and powerful enough to work through all of us," said Bradley, before introducing Barna. "God is certainly able. It is our willingness that is the question."