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Alexei Krindatch ([email protected])Alexei Krindatch ([email protected])
Ten Facts about US Orthodox Churches Ten Facts about US Orthodox Churches from the FACT Studyfrom the FACT Study
What is FACT (“Faith Communities Today”) What is FACT (“Faith Communities Today”) Study? Study?
Established in 2000, FACT is ongoing survey-based research project which examines various aspects of life of American religious congregations
FACT’s work is conducted and publicized by a multi-faith group of religious researchers. FACT partnership includes researchers from 25+ faith groups and denominations.
FACT projects are coordinated by Hartford Institute for Religion Research
The US Orthodox Churches have been and are full-fledged members of FACT partnership from its very inception
Detailed info about FACT work, projects and findings:
www.faithcommunitiestoday.org
What is FACT 2010 study? What is FACT 2010 study? Faith Communities Today 2010 national survey is
most recent major study of American congregations accomplished by FACT partnership
11,000+ randomly selected religious congregations representing 32 of the country’s largest denominations and faith traditions completed standard questionnaires
FACT 2010 surveys were sent to all GOA, OCA, AOCA parishes. 370 parishes completed questionnaires – 30% return rate (including 85 AOCA parishes – 34% return)
For various subject-oriented reports from FACT 2010 study look at:
http://faithcommunitiestoday.org/fact-2010
Fact 1Fact 1 Orthodox parishes are much more Orthodox parishes are much more “urban” than Roman Catholic parishes and “urban” than Roman Catholic parishes and Protestant congregationsProtestant congregations “How would you
describe the location of your church building?”
26%
38%
18%
13%
12%
23%
8%
41%
13%
15%
6%
53%
16%
22%
8%
40%
Rural area or village or town
under 10,000
Town or city 10,000-50,000
Downtown or old residential
area in city over 50,000
Suburbs around city over
50,000
EasternOrthodoxChurches
Roman CatholicChurch
MainlineProtestantChurches
EvangelicalProtestantChurches
Fact 2Fact 2 Other than English languages are Other than English languages are still much more present in US Eastern still much more present in US Eastern Orthodox than in Roman Catholic and Orthodox than in Roman Catholic and
Protestant Churches Protestant Churches % congregations which hold worship services in other
than English language or have bilingual services
46%
25%
5%
8%
Eastern Orthodox Churches
Roman Catholic Church
Mainline Protestant denominations
Evangelical Protestant denominations
But the usage of other-than-English But the usage of other-than-English languages varies significantly among languages varies significantly among
major US Orthodox Churches major US Orthodox Churches % parishes which hold worship services in other than
English language or have bilingual services
23%
19%
78%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
AOCA
OCA
GOA
Fact 3Fact 3 Compared to Protestant Compared to Protestant congregations and Roman Catholic congregations and Roman Catholic
parishes, demography of membership parishes, demography of membership in Orthodox parishes is different:in Orthodox parishes is different:
Members of Orthodox churches are better educated: Orthodox parishes have higher % of persons with college degree
Members of Orthodox churches spend longer time commuting to their churches
Orthodox parishes are less “female” than Roman Catholic parishes or Protestant congregations
There are fewer senior (65+) members among Orthodox parishioners than among members of Roman Catholic or Mainline Protestant Churches
“Of your total regular participants estimate the percent who are…”
Average % of various categories of members:
Category of members
East. Orth.
Rom.Cath.
Mnln.Prot.
Evng.Prot.
College graduates 53 40 43 31Living within 15 minutes of parish’s church building
46 73 75 55
Female 54 57 61 57Senior adults: age 65 and older 26 30 38 24
New to congregation / parish in the past 5 years
23 18 19 30
Demography of GOA, OCA, AOCA Demography of GOA, OCA, AOCA members is also quite differentmembers is also quite different Average % of various categories of
members for GOA, OCA, AOCA parishes nationwide
Category of parishioners AOCA
GOA OCA
College graduates 57 54 49Living within 15 minutes of parish’s church building
47 53 34
Female 53 56 56Senior adults: age 65 and older 21 30 26
New to parish in the past 5 years 30 15 27
Converts to Orthodoxy 50 26 48
Fact 4Fact 4 Theologically Orthodox parishes Theologically Orthodox parishes are much more conservative than Roman are much more conservative than Roman
Catholic or Oldline Protestant Catholic or Oldline Protestant congregationscongregations
“How would you describe theological outlook of the majority of your regularly participating
adults?”
74% 21% 5%
47% 34% 17%
50% 41% 9%
70% 26% 4%
Evangelical Protestants
Oldline Protestants
Roman Catholics
Eastern Orthodox
Conservative (somewhat or very) Moderate
Liberal (somewhat or very)
There is not much difference between There is not much difference between AOCA, GOA and OCA parishes in terms of AOCA, GOA and OCA parishes in terms of
their “theological preferences” their “theological preferences” (conservative vers. liberal)(conservative vers. liberal)
“How would you describe theological outlook of the majority of your regularly participating
adults?”
74% 22% 4%
65% 30% 5%
74% 22% 4%
OCA
GOA
AOCA
Conservative (somewhat or very) Moderate
Liberal (somewhat or very)
Fact 5Fact 5 But there is significant difference But there is significant difference between AOCA, GOA and OCA churches in between AOCA, GOA and OCA churches in how much emphasis they place on various how much emphasis they place on various
programsprograms % of parishes reporting that following programs
and activities are given “a lot of emphasis”
35%
40%
23%
53%
52%
44%
44%
74%
68%
45%
25%
62%
80%
27%
41%
41%
28%
52%Sunday school
Bible studies
Music programs
Religious formation classes
Youth programs
Community service activities
AOCAparishes
GOAparishes
OCAparishes
Fact 6Fact 6 Compared to Roman Catholic Compared to Roman Catholic
and Protestant Churches, the and Protestant Churches, the
Orthodox Churches do not Orthodox Churches do not
communicate much with religiously communicate much with religiously
“others:” the level of ecumenical “others:” the level of ecumenical
involvement of Orthodox parishes is involvement of Orthodox parishes is
significantly lower than among significantly lower than among
Roman Catholic parishes or Roman Catholic parishes or
Protestant congregations Protestant congregations
“During past 12 months, has your parish / congregation been involved in any of the
following ecumenical or interfaith activities?”
% reporting "Yes"
59%
34%
41%
28%
74%
47%
53%
53%
80%
65%
65%
77%
62%
52%
52%
55%
Worship services
,Joint celebrations ,fairs
cultural events
Educational or fellowship
activities
Community service activities
EasternOrthodoxChurches
RomanCatholicChurch
MainlineProtestantChurches
EvangelicalProtestantChurches
Overall GOA parishes have higher level of Overall GOA parishes have higher level of ecumenical involvement than AOCA or OCA ecumenical involvement than AOCA or OCA
churcheschurches “During past 12 months, has your parish been involved in any of the following ecumenical or
interfaith activities?” % reporting "Yes"
59%
28%
40%
17%
62%
43%
46%
36%
55%
28%
34%
24%
Worship services
,Joint celebrations ,fairs
cultural events
Educational or fellowship
activities
Community service activities
AOCAparishes
GOAparishes
OCAparishes
Fact 7Fact 7 Reportedly, worship in Orthodox Reportedly, worship in Orthodox parishes is more “powerful” than in parishes is more “powerful” than in
Roman Catholic and Protestant churchesRoman Catholic and Protestant churches
% of parishes / congregations reporting that following describe their week-end worship
service “very well”
39%
42%
43%
70%
22%
22%
31%
28%
29%
26%
31%
24%
37%
33%
39%
27%
Worship is reverent
Worship is joyful
Worship is inspirational
Worship is thought provoking
EasternOrthodoxChurches
RomanCatholicChurch
MainlineProtestantChurches
EvangelicalProtestantChurches
Reportedly, worship in AOCA parishes is Reportedly, worship in AOCA parishes is more “powerful” than in GOA and OCA more “powerful” than in GOA and OCA
churcheschurches % of parishes reporting that following describe
their week-end worship service “very well”
43%
51%
50%
80%
34%
34%
36%
66%
42%
47%
47%
69%
Worship is reverent
Worship is joyful
Worship is inspirational
Worship is thought provoking
AOCAparishes
GOAparishes
OCAparishes
Fact 8.Fact 8. AOCA parishes have higher AOCA parishes have higher expectations with regard to religious expectations with regard to religious
practices of their members than GOA and practices of their members than GOA and OCA churchesOCA churches
% of parishes reporting that they place “a lot of emphasis” on following personal and family
religious practices
56%
49%
42%
52%
43%
40%
37%
43%
50%
41%
36%
49%
Personal prayer
Family prayer
with childrenabout faith
Fasting
AOCAparishes
GOAparishes
OCAparishes
Fact 9Fact 9 Financial health of Orthodox Parishes is Financial health of Orthodox Parishes is worse compared to Catholic parishes and worse compared to Catholic parishes and
Protestant CongregationsProtestant Congregations “How would you describe current (2010) “How would you describe current (2010)
financial health of your parish / congregation?” financial health of your parish / congregation?”
31%
45%
24%
40%
40%
20%
37%
40%
23%
44%
40%
16%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
EasternOrthodoxparishes
RomanCatholicparishes
MainlineProtestant
congregations
EvangelicalProtestant
congregations
% of parishes / congregations reporting:
In difficulty
Tight, butwe manage
Good orexcellent
Compared to GOA and OCA churches, Compared to GOA and OCA churches, Antiochian parishes report better financial Antiochian parishes report better financial
situation. situation. “How would you describe current (2010) “How would you describe current (2010)
financial health of your parish? ” financial health of your parish? ”
38%
47%
15%
29%
42%
29%
30%
47%
23%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
AOCA parishes GOA parishes OCA parishes
% of parishes / congregations reporting:
Indifficulty
Tide butwemanageGood /Excellent
GOA churches were hit harder by financial GOA churches were hit harder by financial crisis thancrisis than the OCA and AOCA parishes the OCA and AOCA parishes “How would you assess the impact of 2008-09 crisis on your parish’s staff and operations?” % of parishes reporting “Moderate or Major impact” on each of following
28%
21%
5%
24%
38%
39%
13%
37%
26%
28%
5%
19%
Staff salary reduction / freeze
Staff layoffs or furloughs
Funds available frominvestments
Capital campaign or building
program
AOCAparishes
GOAparishes
OCAparishes
Members of GOA churches were also hit Members of GOA churches were also hit harder by financial crisis than the OCA and harder by financial crisis than the OCA and AOCA parishionersAOCA parishioners “How would you assess the impact of 2008-09 economic crisis on the members of your parish?”
% of parishes reporting “Moderate or Major impact” on each of following
31%
19%
19%
36%
32%
35%
32%
20%
18%
Requests of
parishionersfor cash
assistance
Requests ofparishioners
for pastoralcounseling
Unemploymentamong parish
members
AOCAparishes
GOAparishes
OCAparishes
Fact 10Fact 10 US Orthodox parishes are as involved in US Orthodox parishes are as involved in recruiting new members as Catholic parishes or recruiting new members as Catholic parishes or Mainline Protestant churches. But they lag far Mainline Protestant churches. But they lag far
behind Evangelicals churches. behind Evangelicals churches. “Overall, to what extent are your parish’s / “Overall, to what extent are your parish’s /
congregation’s participants involved in congregation’s participants involved in recruiting new members?” recruiting new members?”
19%
40%
41%
17%
44%
39%
19%
40%
41%
30%
44%
26%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
US Orthodoxparishes
RomanCatholicparishes
MainlineProtestant
congregations
EvangelicalProtestant
congregations
% of parishes / congregations reporting:
Not at all / Alittle
Some
Quite a bit /A lot
The stereotype about particular missionary zeal The stereotype about particular missionary zeal of Antiochian churches seems to be of Antiochian churches seems to be
exagerrated. exagerrated. “Overall, to what extent are your parish’s / “Overall, to what extent are your parish’s /
congregation’s participants involved in congregation’s participants involved in recruiting new members?” recruiting new members?”
18%
50%
32%
17%
37%
46%
21%
39%
40%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
AOCA parishes GOA parishes OCA parishes
% of parishes / congregations reporting:
Not at all /A little
Some
Quite abit / A lot
Source of Information on US Source of Information on US Orthodox Churches (available on Orthodox Churches (available on
Amazon.com)Amazon.com)
A few useful web-sites on church-life in USA:
www.orthodoxreality.org : about about American Orthodox Churches todayAmerican Orthodox Churches today
www.orthodoxhistory.org: about about history of US Orthodox Churcheshistory of US Orthodox Churches
www.usreligioncensus.org: county level county level data on religious affiliation, data on religious affiliation, membership and attendance in USAmembership and attendance in USA
www.hirr.hartsem.edu: vast and vast and diverse information on various diverse information on various (mainly Christian) religious (mainly Christian) religious communities in USAcommunities in USA
If you are back home and have If you are back home and have questions, please, write me at questions, please, write me at
[email protected]@aol.com
Now is time for “difficult” questions: please ask!
