Survey Says: LCMS Worship Practices & Attitudes
The LCMS Reporter website posted an article earlier today on the newly released LCMS Worship Practice & Attitudes Survey. The survey compares the responses of the Top 5% congregations (highest percentage and number of adult confirmations in 2006) and a random sampling of congregations on their worship practices and attitudes.
And the survey says . . . . nothing earth shattering. I read through the 42 page survey results, yawned, and moved on. A brief summary is:
For the most part, there are few statistically significant differences in worship practices between the two samples, and those differences are primarily related to elements of the different styles [of worship - my addition].
However, Rev. Johnson, the executive director of the Commission on Worship, notes that “No singular [worship] attitude or practice stands out as a significant key to numerical growth.” Fortunately, God is still at work through His Word and Sacraments.
The Reporter article ends with this snippet:
The survey does not indicate any “silver bullets for the vitality, health, and growth of congregations,” O’Hara said, “but it does provide the commission and the Synod with valuable information.”
One of the highlights of the survey for me was this analysis:
Conversely, songs from the Praise and Worship Genre or independent liturgies specific to the assembly were much more likely to find a voice in the contemporary or blended formats.
Was that a surprise? It seems fairly obvious — even without a survey.
One area of concern for me was that the Top 5% churches which offered a blended service were less likely (84%) to use the Words of Institution than the random group (100%). The Aug 18 reading from the Treasury of Daily Prayer was from the Epitome of the Formula of Concord and directly commented on this:
At the same time we also believe, teach, and confess unanimously that in the use of the Holy Supper the words of Christ’s institution should in no way be left out. Instead, they should be publicly recited, as it is written in 1 Corinthians 10:16, . . .
If you have a few spare moments, it wouldn’t hurt to scroll through the survey results. (Use the “Page Down” key — it goes faster than the “Down” arrow).
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