Racial Diversity in U.S. Congregations, 1998–2019

Racially diverse congregations have become an important part of the American religious landscape. We use data from the National Congregations Study (NCS), notably including data from the fourth wave, collected in 2018–2019, to examine 20 years of racial diversity in congregations. We find that racial diversity within congregations has increased substantially between 1998 and 2019. There are more congregations in which no one racial or ethnic group comprises more than 80 percent of the people, congregations’ average diversity level has increased, and the percentage of all-white congregations has declined. Nearly a quarter of evangelical churches now have no one ethnic group constituting more than 80 percent of the people, a rate comparable to what we observe among Catholic churches. Moreover, congregations that meet this 80-percent threshold are more likely to be led by black clergy in 2019 than they were in 1998. We end with a note of caution about concluding that diverse congregations necessarily promote racial justice.     

Introducing the Fourth Wave of the National Congregations Study

The fourth wave of the National Congregations Study (NCS-IV) was conducted in 2018–2019 with a nationally representative sample of congregations from across the religious spectrum. The NCS-IV included a fresh cross-section of congregations generated in conjunction with the 2018 General Social Survey and a panel of congregations that participated in the third NCS wave. Data were collected via a 65-minute interview with one key informant from 1,262 congregations. The cooperation rate was 74 percent; the conservatively calculated response rate was 69 percent. Information was gathered about multiple aspects of congregations’ social composition, structure, activities, leadership, and programming. Approximately two-thirds of the NCS-IV questionnaire replicates items from previous NCS waves. This introduction to the NCS-IV symposium describes NCS-IV methodology and special features of the new data. The three symposium articles present NCS-IV results about congregations’ political activities, racial and ethnic composition, and worship practices.     

Orthodoxy Niches: Diversity in Congregational Orthodoxy Among Three Protestant Denominations in the United States

The organizational niche, a fruitful concept from the organizational ecology literature, frames this study on the diverse orthodoxy of congregations within the same denomination. Congregations diversify along a conservative‐to‐liberal continuum, which lessens niche overlap with nearby congregations in their denomination. Pastors and priests in United Methodist and Episcopal congregations in three U.S. regions were able to locate their congregations (and other congregations in their denomination in close proximity) along this conservative‐to‐liberal continuum, an indication that orthodoxy distinctions were important to congregational identity. In comparison, Assemblies of God congregations showed little intradenominational diversity in orthodoxy, since sectarian boundaries narrow their niche. Theoretical and methodological implications of this intradenominational diversity are explored.     

How Many Congregations Are There? Updating a Survey‐Based Estimate

Researchers have attempted to estimate the number of congregations in the United States using counts provided by denominations, existing media (newspapers, phone books, websites, etc.), and calculations using congregational surveys. Hadaway and Marler (2005) took the third approach, basing their estimate on the 1998 National Congregations Study (NCS), a representative sample of U.S. congregations, and select official denominational statistics. Since publishing their estimate of 331,000 congregations in 1998, two subsequent waves of the NCS have been conducted. Using the same approach, I estimate the number of congregations in 1998, 2006, and 2012. I conclude that congregations probably became more numerous, likely due to growth among nondenominational Protestants and the extraordinarily low death rate of congregations. But I also consider alternative interpretations of the data.     

Changing Worship Practices in American Congregations

Worship is the core activity of American congregations and the primary way people experience religion collectively in the United States. We use data from the National Congregations Study (NCS), notably including data from the fourth wave, collected in 2018–19, to examine two key trends in worship practices among American religious congregations. First, the trend toward more informal and enthusiastic worship identified in earlier NCS surveys continues into 2019. Showing no signs of having reached a plateau, a more informal worship style has increased in prevalence across every major American religious tradition. Second, recently developed communication technologies have permeated congregations’ worship services in ways that change the collective experience. Collected on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic, NCS-IV data on worship and technology provide a baseline for future examinations of worship changes caused by the pandemic, and a window into congregations’ technological preparedness for a world in which it is not safe to gather.     

The Political Activities of Religious Congregations in the United States

In recent decades, much research has focused on how religious congregations affect individuals' political participation. However, only scant attention has been paid to examining the various ways in which religious congregations engage in political activism as formal organizational entities. Using data from the 1998 National Congregations Study (NCS), a survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,236 religious congregations, we begin to fill this gap in our knowledge about religion and politics. We report the rates at which congregations engage in a broad range of political activity, and we examine variations in this activity among major religious traditions. We emphasize two basic findings. First, although in absolute terms congregations' levels of political activism seem rather low, relative to other nonpolitical organizations they engage in politics in substantial numbers. Second, there are qualitative rather than quantitative differences in political activity across religious traditions. Religious traditions specialize in different modes of political participation, a fact that is obscured when attention is focused solely on the political activities of conservative religious groups.     

Dearly Departed: How Often Do Congregations Close?

We establish for the first time a national mortality rate for religious congregations by determining the 2005 status of congregations in the 1998 National Congregations Study sample. The annual mortality rate for religious congregations is 1 percent, which is among the lowest mortality rates ever observed for any type of organization. This unusually low mortality rate probably indicates an organizational population whose weakest members live on in a weakened state rather than an organizational population that is unusually robust all the way down to its most vulnerable members.     

Race Differences in Congregational Social Service Activity

This article uses data from the 1998 National Congregations Study, a survey of a representative sample of 1,236 religious congregations in the United States, to examine the social service activity of African-American congregations. The first goal is to explore the question of whether African-American religious congregations participate more (or less) than other congregations in social service provision in general. Then, the focus shifts to specific types of social service programs in order to determine if African-American congregations tend to specialize in the provision of certain types of services. The rates at which congregations support nine different types of social service programs are reported, and participation in programs is then subjected to logistic regression analysis. Significant race effects for African-American congregations exist for four types of programs: clothing, substance abuse, tutoring/mentoring, and nonreligious education. These findings, particularly the effect on education and mentoring programs, counter the assertion by Lincoln and Mamiya (1990) that African-American congregations are not doing enough in areas that are critical to African-American youth.     

The Changing Complexion of American Congregations

The only constant in life is change, or so goes the familiar refrain. But when it comes to research on multiracial congregations, studying change has largely been overlooked. Questions loom about the changing prevalence, leadership, and composition of racially diverse congregations. Using three waves of data from the National Congregations Study (1998, 2006, and 2012), we offer an overarching examination of racial composition in U.S. congregations across approximately 15 years. Both the percentage of multiracial congregations and the amount of racial/ethnic diversity in congregations have increased. The increase has been most dramatic in Protestant churches. In addition, blacks are more common in the pulpit and the pews of America's multiracial congregations than they were in the past. Blacks now surpass Latinos as the group most likely to worship with whites in multiracial congregations. Location and religious tradition continue to be influential factors in a congregation's racial diversity, but the significance of several congregational characteristics have changed over time. We discuss the implications of these findings.     

Resources, Races, and Female-Headed Congregations in the United States

This paper uses the 1998 National Congregations Study (NCS) to investigate the demographic and organizational characteristics of female-headed congregations in the United States. Our findings significantly extend knowledge about the demographic characteristics of these congregations. Counterintuitively, female-led congregations are more likely to be found inurban areas than in other locations, and they are more prevalent among African American congregations—particularly those with no denominational ties—and among ethnically mixed congregations. Our findings also confirm previous research on women clergy which indicates that, compared with congregations led by men, there is a paucity of organizational resources in female-headed congregations.     

Changing American Congregations: Findings from the Third Wave of the National Congregations Study

The third wave of the National Congregations Study (NCS‐III) was conducted in 2012. The 2012 General Social Survey asked respondents who attend religious services to name their religious congregation, producing a nationally representative cross‐section of congregations from across the religious spectrum. Data about these congregations were collected via a 50‐minute interview with one key informant from 1,331 congregations. Information was gathered about multiple aspects of congregations’ social composition, structure, activities, and programming. Approximately two‐thirds of the NCS‐III questionnaire replicates items from 1998 or 2006–2007 NCS waves. Each congregation was geocoded, and selected data from the 2010 U.S. Census or American Community Survey have been appended. We describe NCS‐III methodology and use the cumulative NCS dataset (containing 4,071 cases) to describe five trends: more ethnic diversity, greater acceptance of gays and lesbians, increasingly informal worship styles, declining size (but not from the perspective of the average attendee), and declining denominational affiliation.     

The Influence of Priests on the Political Attitudes of Roman Catholics

For years, scholars in religion and politics have worked under the assumption that clergy wield significant political influence with their congregations. Until recently, however, this assumption had gone largely uninvestigated and undemonstrated. This article helps correct this shortcoming by analyzing the Notre Dame Study of Catholic Parish Life for evidence of priestly influence on the political attitudes of Catholic parishioners. Though the data indicate that Catholic priests do, indeed, appear to influence the political attitudes of their parishioners, the nature of this influence is more complex than previously demonstrated. Specifically, pastor ideology is the key predictor of both parishioners' issue positions and political ideology, and influence appears to be restricted to politically liberal pastors.     

Religious Organizations and Homosexuality: The Acceptance of Gays and Lesbians in American Congregations

The participation of gays and lesbians in all aspects of society is continually disputed in the United States. Religion is one of the key battlegrounds. The extent to which religious congregations include lesbians and gays in congregational life is vital to the wider debate over homosexuality because congregations consistently influence more Americans than any other voluntary social institution reported by Putnam (Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2000). Using nationally representative data from the 2006–2007 National Congregations Study this analysis investigates the level of acceptance of gays and lesbians within congregations as well as which congregations are most likely to allow lesbians and gays to become involved. I find that religious tradition, theological and political ideology, location, and demographic composition of congregations all influence the degree to which gays and lesbians are included into congregational life.     

Happiness,political orientation,and religiosity

Previous research has focused on how happiness is independently associated with political orientation and religiosity. The current study instead explored how political orientation and religiosity interact in establishing levels of happiness. Data from both the 2012 General Social Survey and the 2005 World Values Survey were used. Results from both data sets support prior research by showing a positive association between happiness and both political conservatism and religiosity. Importantly, it was found that political conservatism and religiosity interact in predicting happiness levels. Specifically, the current results suggest that religiosity has a greater effect on happiness for more politically conservative individuals compared to more politically liberal individuals.     

The Church of Faith and Freedom: African–American Baptists and Social Action

Clergy have an undeniable ability to shape the political beliefs and attitudes of their congregations and thus revealing how the framing activities of clergy affect behavior and influence mobilization is vital for political sociology. This ethnographic work delineates how, in 1972, the Second Baptist Church of Evanston's new pastor initiated a rapid change from social conservatism to become one of the most politically and socially active African–American Baptist churches in the Midwest. Second Baptist's radical change confirms the power of religious elites in shaping politics in spiritual institutions, and also demonstrates the vital impact of professional socialization on the theological and political orientations of clergy.     

The Others: Finding and Counting America's Invisible Churches

The 2010 U. S. Religious Census: Religious Congregations and Membership Survey (RCMS) is the most comprehensive picture of U.S. religious life, county by county. How thorough is the RCMS in covering local religious groups? To answer this question, three county snapshots were performed with collected data compared to the RCMS 2010 reported numbers. Data suggest that there has been an underreport by as much as 25 percent of the number of local congregations in these counties. New and emerging religious movements and denominations as well as ethnic congregations comprise much of this percentage, making it more imperative for scholars to develop methodologies and frameworks in order to capture these “others” and invisible churches in America.     

Institutionalized Norms,Practical Organizational Activity,and Loose Coupling: Inclusive Congregations’ Responses to Homosexuality

Congregations vary widely in their responses to homosexuality. Among those inclusive congregations that integrate gays and lesbians into congregational life, why do some adopt a formal organizational statement of welcoming while others do not? Drawing on the new institutionalism and inhabited institutions literatures, this study is the first quantitative examination of the concept of “loose coupling” within religious organizations regarding homosexuality. Analyses using nationally representative congregational data (National Congregations Study) indicate that particular types of inclusive congregations are more likely to loosely couple their practical activity from their formal organizational stance. These findings suggest that inclusive religious organizations respond to myths and norms from various organizational fields and that agentic actors inhabiting the organization influence it by responding, interpreting, and making sense of those institutional norms. The analyses also indicate that loose coupling is one avenue through which particular types of religious organizations respond to the transformation of societal norms with innovation.     

The Loss and Grief in Immigration: Pastoral Care for Immigrants

Immigration is common in this increasingly globalized world. Immigration is a psycho-social-geographical transition that involves a series of losses and changes, most of them obvious and expected, but some of them hidden and unexpected. Immigration also involves changes in one’s identity, as inner change tries to match outer change. The original story of immigration—by Abraham in the Bible—highlights some of the issues immigrants typically confront. A survey of Taiwanese immigrants in San Francisco and Vancouver, Canada illustrates some of the most troubling of these issues. Congregations, particularly bicultural congregations, are especially well-equipped to minister to the needs of the newly immigrated. Pastors need to be sensitive to the issues and needs of immigrants in a world where we are all foreigners in one sense or another.     

Two Approaches to Religion and Politics: Moral Cosmology and Subcultural Identity*

We explore two competing approaches to internal religious divisions and their political consequences. The “moral cosmology” approach focuses on religious worldviews. It juxtaposes the religiously orthodox to modernists, arguing that the former are theologically communitarian in belief while the latter are individualistic. The religiously orthodox worldview (relative to modernists) is posited to lead to politically conservative stances on cultural issues of abortion, sexuality, and family but politically liberal stances on economic issues. In contrast, the “subcultural identity” approach focuses on identity rather than worldview. According to this approach, self‐identified evangelicals and fundamentalists are expected to be more politically conservative on both cultural and economic issues when compared to mainline or liberal Protestants. Through analyses of the 1998 GSS, which allows operationalization of the two approaches and their extension to Catholic identities, we find that cosmology and identity are associated, but they have independent—and sometimes opposite—effects on Americans’ political beliefs.     

Race,Religion, and Worship: Are Contemporary African‐American Worship Practices Distinct?

Drawing upon the cultural repertoire and religious marketplace perspectives, this study examines the extent to which ecstatic, participatory worship practices are distinctive to African-American congregations and explores the role that ecstatic, participatory worship plays in contemporary African-American worship. National Congregations Study (NCS) data are used to conduct comparative analyses of African-American and white congregations' participation in two forms of ecstatic, participatory worship: verbal affirmation and spontaneous physical worship. Findings suggest that while spontaneous physical worship is distinctive to the religiocultural repertoires of African-American congregations, verbal affirmation is not. Traditional explanations about the origin of ecstatic, participatory worship, such as religious tradition, Pentecostalism, and social class, are less compelling than they were in the past. For contemporary African-American congregations, ecstatic, participatory worship is no longer associated with marginal or less-educated congregations, but with more sociopolitically and religiously progressive ones.