Is Sunday Morning Worship a Tradition in Decline?

The Gallup Poll has has tracked church attendance for over seventy years and maintains that around 40% of Americans attend church on a regular basis.  The Evangelical Covenant Church has tracked Sunday attendance among 200,000 mainline church (Catholic and Protestant) since the late 1980's.  Their latest research indicates that actual Sunday attendance is only 17.7%.  A similar study done by the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion found similar results to the ECC study.  It's an accepted fact that attendance among mainline churches has consistently dropped over the last twenty years.  At the same time participation in non-denominational and mega churches has increased.

Looking at the most recent researches causes me to ask the question: What is regular church attendance?  Many Americans consider themselves to be Christian, but for them regular attendance might consist of attending Sunday services once or twice a month, perhaps even less.  I have experienced this myself recently.  Barb and I regularly attend The Crossing Church in Dallas.  The Crossing is the first new Lutheran Church plant in the City of Dallas in over forty years.  Our son, Mark, is the lead pastor and he has a real passion for those who are disconnected with the church.  The Crossing is especially targeted at millennials (adults under thirty).  To be honest, being in Church on Sunday morning, is not a high priority with them.  Many of them participate in hubs, the small group ministry, and other watch the Sunday messages on-line.  For them, regular attendance constitutes being in Sunday worship once a month or so.

While I recognize that faith and a relationship with God is a personal thing, I also value being part of a worship community.  I need my brothers and sister in Christ to help me stay focused spiritually.  I also want to hear about their personal needs and struggle.  While I value the small group Bible study that I am involved in on Saturday mornings, but I also recognize the importance of Sunday morning worship.

Those of us who are Baby Boomers, roughly over the age of forty, need to stay committed to the Sunday worship tradition.  At the same time we need to make sharing the faith outside the walls of the church a high priority as well.  We can no longer wait for the lost and hurting to come to us.  We need to be seeking opportunities to touch their lives, and when we do we must be messengers of hope.  We also need to put aside of personal prejudices and listen to them and their needs.  Through it all, we need to stay committed to being regular in worship and in daily spiritual renewal.