What is the key to a healthy church? United Methodists have paid big bucks to find out.

As the sour economy and aging buildings wreak havoc on church budgets, United Methodists are trying to get ahead of the problem and assess the health of their congregations in a bid to reverse declining fortunes.

The church recently concluded a study of more than 32,000 Methodist congregations across North America, seeking the “key factors impacting vital congregations.” The study surveyed everybody from bishops to district superintendents to people in the pews.

Working with New York-based Towers Watson consultants, researchers constructed a “vitality index” to measure each church and concluded “that all kinds of UMC churches are vital – small, large, across geographies, and church setting.”

The report identified four key areas that fuel vitality: small groups and programs; worship services that mix traditional and contemporary styles with an emphasis on relevant sermons; pastors who work hard on mentorship and cultivation of the laity; and an emphasis on effective lay leadership. These four factors “are consistent regardless of church size, predominant ethnicity, and jurisdiction,” the study concluded.

Illinois Bishop Gregory Palmer and Neil Alexander, co-chairman of the denomination’s Call to Action Steering Team, said the project was prompted by the financial downturn but was expanded to assess measures of “robust health” in rank-and-file congregations.

Like other mainline Protestant denominations, the 7.8million-member United Methodist Church has hemorrhaged members for decades. Its strongest growth has been overseas, home to an additional 3.3 million members.

Problems like the rising average age of both clergy and parishioners, and continuing downward trends in worship attendance and baptisms, prompted researchers to launch a more holistic study of church vitality, they said.

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SOURCE: Charlotte Observer – Alfredo Garcia