Selling religion
27/02/16 05:39
I’ve attended several General Synods of the United Church of Christ. Every other year our denomination has a large gathering of delegates who vote on church budgets and policies and elect the leaders who guide our church in its national setting. As conventions go, it isn’t very large, but for us it is a big gathering. The meeting is usually held in a large urban convention center and there is a hall devoted to displays and vendors. Part of the fun of attending General Synod is spending time going through all of the booths in the display hall, looking at books and Christian Education resources, stoles and other liturgical vestments, mission projects and everything from fair trade coffee to serve at church functions to architectural services for building renovations and new buildings.
I even had the experience, along with many others, of having my credit card information stolen when it was used for a purchase at a General Synod bookseller. Fortunately, my credit card company noticed the fraud right away and I had no financial loss as a result of what was determined to be a security flaw in the convention center’s Internet service to vendors.
I enjoy going to other types of convention displays and have been known to wander the booths at the Sports Show, State Fair and other special events. There is, however, something particularly interesting about a group of vendors brought together with a specific church audience in mind.
General Synod, however, is nothing compared to the granddaddy of all religion fairs, the Koine expo in Vicenza, Italy. Last year the fair hosted 13,000 visitors from all over the world. It featured 347 vendors selling everything from lighting systems to communion ware to statues and figurines, crosses, and much more.
You could have, had you attended, purchased an electronic pray-along rosary, said to be useful for those suffering arthritis. You can hear a chorus of praying nuns as the yellow LEDs of the rosary light up. It even has an “auto mystery” button for a wide variety of prayers.
Photographer Louis De Belle has just released a new book, “Besides Faith,” with photos and vignettes of the expo. I found out about the book by reading a photo-packed essay on the Washington Post website. The pictures make me think I might enjoy wandering through the expo, but that I wouldn’t make many purchases in such a visit.
We don’t particularly need expensive chalices made out of valuable metals and polished to perfection. Matching crosses and candlesticks aren’t a priority for us either. I’m not a fan of glow-in-the-dark Jesus figures that don’t even look like Jesus to me and I don’t know what you would do with all of the plastic, resin and other cast figurines of popes, madonnas, and other religious people. You could get your figurines shrink wrapped for shipping at the event. Chances are the vestments and other clothing items are well beyond my budget. Electronic candles have made their way into our Christmas Eve services, but I don’t need to attend a fair to find items that are readily available over the internet.
Perhaps it is best for me to stay away from the expo. It might make me even more cynical about some of the trappings that one finds in the contemporary church.
We live in a time of a very quick change in religious practice. Churches of all denominations and theologies are experiencing declines, especially in the United States. Each generation has fewer people who attend church regularly. According to a 2014 Pew Research Center study, 51% of the “Greatest Generation,” attend religious services at least once a week. With baby boomers, the number slides to 37% and drops to just 27% of millennials. From half to a quarter in one lifetime is a dramatic shift.
Amidst all of this change, some churches are resorting to dramatic changes in order to preserve their worship attendance. Stained Glass windows are replaced with windowless rooms with elaborate projection systems. Organs are removed and rock bands appear in their place. Passing offering plates is replaced with appeals for cell phone and online donations.
I am fortunate to serve a stable congregation, but the changes are evident in our congregation. In order to maintain worship attendance, we have to increase the total number of participants in our church. Whereas Sunday services reflected the total number of church members a few decades ago, these days it takes a lot more members to fill the pews each week. We have people who consider themselves to be regular members of our congregation who attend only ten or fewer services each year. Families place church attendance somewhere behind soccer tournaments in their list of priorities. It takes a lot of innovation to design a confirmation class when more than half of the class is unwilling to commit to a regular meeting once a month. Weekly attendance, even for a short period of time, is out of the question for all but a very few individual middle and high school youth.
Still, there are limits to what I am comfortable with to promote church attendance. Don’t look for us to copy the 2010 Easter service at a Texas church that offered door prizes like flat-screen TVs, cars and skateboards. Don’t look for me to post a selfie of myself with an Ash Wednesday cross on my forehead. And I think our church will be using hymnals and will have a choir for years to come.
Change, however, is inevitable. We serve people as they are, not as we wish they might be. We are as affected by the advance of technology as are other institutions. Like it or not, cash and checks are being replaced by other payment systems. Each year we add more software and hardware to the church’s computer systems. Electronic distribution of newsletters and other documents has replaced the mail for many families in our church. Maintaining an effective website is a priority for our ministries.
Still, I don’t think we’ll order any laser-etched 3D figures of saints in glass blocks to install in our sanctuary anytime soon. I probably wouldn’t be a big customer were I to attend the expo.
I even had the experience, along with many others, of having my credit card information stolen when it was used for a purchase at a General Synod bookseller. Fortunately, my credit card company noticed the fraud right away and I had no financial loss as a result of what was determined to be a security flaw in the convention center’s Internet service to vendors.
I enjoy going to other types of convention displays and have been known to wander the booths at the Sports Show, State Fair and other special events. There is, however, something particularly interesting about a group of vendors brought together with a specific church audience in mind.
General Synod, however, is nothing compared to the granddaddy of all religion fairs, the Koine expo in Vicenza, Italy. Last year the fair hosted 13,000 visitors from all over the world. It featured 347 vendors selling everything from lighting systems to communion ware to statues and figurines, crosses, and much more.
You could have, had you attended, purchased an electronic pray-along rosary, said to be useful for those suffering arthritis. You can hear a chorus of praying nuns as the yellow LEDs of the rosary light up. It even has an “auto mystery” button for a wide variety of prayers.
Photographer Louis De Belle has just released a new book, “Besides Faith,” with photos and vignettes of the expo. I found out about the book by reading a photo-packed essay on the Washington Post website. The pictures make me think I might enjoy wandering through the expo, but that I wouldn’t make many purchases in such a visit.
We don’t particularly need expensive chalices made out of valuable metals and polished to perfection. Matching crosses and candlesticks aren’t a priority for us either. I’m not a fan of glow-in-the-dark Jesus figures that don’t even look like Jesus to me and I don’t know what you would do with all of the plastic, resin and other cast figurines of popes, madonnas, and other religious people. You could get your figurines shrink wrapped for shipping at the event. Chances are the vestments and other clothing items are well beyond my budget. Electronic candles have made their way into our Christmas Eve services, but I don’t need to attend a fair to find items that are readily available over the internet.
Perhaps it is best for me to stay away from the expo. It might make me even more cynical about some of the trappings that one finds in the contemporary church.
We live in a time of a very quick change in religious practice. Churches of all denominations and theologies are experiencing declines, especially in the United States. Each generation has fewer people who attend church regularly. According to a 2014 Pew Research Center study, 51% of the “Greatest Generation,” attend religious services at least once a week. With baby boomers, the number slides to 37% and drops to just 27% of millennials. From half to a quarter in one lifetime is a dramatic shift.
Amidst all of this change, some churches are resorting to dramatic changes in order to preserve their worship attendance. Stained Glass windows are replaced with windowless rooms with elaborate projection systems. Organs are removed and rock bands appear in their place. Passing offering plates is replaced with appeals for cell phone and online donations.
I am fortunate to serve a stable congregation, but the changes are evident in our congregation. In order to maintain worship attendance, we have to increase the total number of participants in our church. Whereas Sunday services reflected the total number of church members a few decades ago, these days it takes a lot more members to fill the pews each week. We have people who consider themselves to be regular members of our congregation who attend only ten or fewer services each year. Families place church attendance somewhere behind soccer tournaments in their list of priorities. It takes a lot of innovation to design a confirmation class when more than half of the class is unwilling to commit to a regular meeting once a month. Weekly attendance, even for a short period of time, is out of the question for all but a very few individual middle and high school youth.
Still, there are limits to what I am comfortable with to promote church attendance. Don’t look for us to copy the 2010 Easter service at a Texas church that offered door prizes like flat-screen TVs, cars and skateboards. Don’t look for me to post a selfie of myself with an Ash Wednesday cross on my forehead. And I think our church will be using hymnals and will have a choir for years to come.
Change, however, is inevitable. We serve people as they are, not as we wish they might be. We are as affected by the advance of technology as are other institutions. Like it or not, cash and checks are being replaced by other payment systems. Each year we add more software and hardware to the church’s computer systems. Electronic distribution of newsletters and other documents has replaced the mail for many families in our church. Maintaining an effective website is a priority for our ministries.
Still, I don’t think we’ll order any laser-etched 3D figures of saints in glass blocks to install in our sanctuary anytime soon. I probably wouldn’t be a big customer were I to attend the expo.