Print friendly
Declining and ageing congregations, crumbling buildings and fewer clergy mean some traditional Christian churches are reaching a crisis point.
Earthquake-prone churches are common and so are smaller congregations.
Declining attendance
The most recent data on religious affiliation from the 2018 census shows 48.2 percent of us have no religion.
The “nones” group is growing: the 2013 census says 41.9 percent reported “no religion”, while in 2001, the census found 29.6 percent said they had no religion.
These figures are borne out by the 2019 New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study. It found about 14.4 percent of New Zealanders attended church at least monthly, compared to 20-25 percent in 2009.
Religious historian Peter Lineham says some faiths are coming together to share facilities.
But he doesn’t think the decline from 20-25 percent to 14.4 percent is correct.
Church attendance has been “relatively steady, but relatively ageing – and that’s been going on since the 1980s” he observes. While New Zealand’s traditional Protestant Church congregations are declining, it’s mostly because of the ageing congregations and the numbers not replenishing.
However, it’s hard to “get a fix” on how active the more contemporary churches, like the Pentecostals, really are.
That’s because we see some massive examples of the ‘mega churches’ and we know a lot of the children and grandchildren of Anglicans, Methodists and Presbyterians are probably going to a Pentecostal church.
Migrant populations
Ethnic makeups of various church congregations have changed, Lineham says.
The arrival of Filipino and the extraordinary role the church plays in their community means Catholic churches – especially those near hospitals and in the north of the North Island – are bursting at the seams.
He says Filipinos and other new migrants are filling Catholic pews, but that Pākeha attendance probably follows similar patterns as other traditional churches in New Zealand.
“No other congregations have quite the advantage of the Catholics of being a world-wide Church so that new migrants get picked up” he says.
He’s also noticed the presence of Indians and Africans in the Anglican churches. There’s a big Korean presence in Presbyterian churches as well as Pasifika populations – the latter are also highly visible in Methodist congregations he says.
Joining forces
Big denomination mergers began in the 1970s with the Uniting Churches.
These churches still exist, but they are facing a crisis now as most of them involved small country churches or churches in new suburbs joining together, Lineham says.
He thinks most country churches will probably close unless they’re being preserved for historic reasons and, longer term, most religions will focus on the bigger towns.
Church assets – like valuable land – are being held close. People don’t want to sell those assets to help other denominations.
The assets are being released, but very slowly.
However, the Royal Commission into Abuse in Church and State Care has led to assets already being sold to pay compensation.
Some churches are already selling assets for this purpose. The Catholic Church is paying up to $50,000 to victims. The Anglican Church, $100,000.
Overall it seems that costs are up, congregations are changing and the future looks somewhat challenging.
Source
Related Posts:
News category: New Zealand.
