FAITH Communities TODAY ( FACT)

For the latest in what's happening
in the Churches of Christ.

Worship on Sunday Mornings

• Seven out of eight churches have only one Sunday morning service
• Only about one in five with multiple services have different formats for the second service
• Only half of those are significantly different in style or format
• Virtually all of our churches have Bible class programs on Sunday morning

"Secondary" Services

• Sunday night and Wednesday evening services remain the norm
• But about one in seven churches doesn’t meet on Sunday night for worship
• Wednesday night services are more common than Sunday night services

Changes in Worship Style

• A majority of our congregations say that worship hasn’t changed in the past five years
• Among those that have changed, most describe the change as slight; only about one in twenty of our churches describe the worship change as "significant"
• Change is greatest in larger congregations, least in smallest churches

Use of "Progressive" Worship Elements

• A third of our congregations have used dramatic presentations in worship
• A fourth have used "special music" in worship
• About one in six congregations has used "praise teams" in worship
• A very small number of congregations have used some form of instrumental music in worship services

Worship Activities and Location

• There is a clear connection between location and use of "progressive" worship activities, with urban churches most likely to use things such as:
  1.  visual projection equipment
  2.  dramatic presentations
  3.  special music
  4.  praise teams

Worship Activities and Size

• Use of "progressive" worship activities is, in most cases, associated with larger congregations
• Larger congregations more often use:

• visual projection equipment
• special music
• praise teams