New research from the United Church of Christ* shows that on average ONA congregations have more members and healthier finances than non-ONA churches.
"One of the obstacles to congregations hesitating to begin their ONA journey is fear: the fear of losing members and income if the church votes to adopt an ONA covenant," says Andy Lang, the ONA Coalition's executive director. "But this latest research shows the opposite is happening: ONA congregations are attracting more members and reporting higher budgets than the UCC average."
The report was released this week by the UCC's Center for Analytics, Research and Data (CARD) and by the Coalition. Unless otherwise indicated, the statistics are for 2018.
On average, ONA churches have 24% more members.
ONA churches report a 33% higher average for worship attendance (per service).
In 2018, ONA churches attracted 50% more new members.
ONA churches report higher budgets, therefore higher income. These numbers show churches from the lowest percentile (the ten percent of churches with the smallest budgets) to the highest (the ten percent with the largest budgets). In each group, ONA congregations report significantly larger budgets than non-ONA.
So it's not surprising that the closure/merger rate for ONA congregations is lower: 1.8% of ONA churches (22) closed in the past five years (2014 to 2018) compared to 3.2% of non-ONA churches (110). In fact, the relative health of ONA congregations lowered the UCC's five-year average of closing churches (2.4%).
However, Lang warns that an ONA covenant does not guarantee a congregation will be financially healthier or attract new members. "It all depends on how well a church integrates its ONA commitment into its vision, identity, communications, and priorities. We've learned that ONA churches that are visible and active in their communities have the potential to grow ----- in numbers and in spirit. Churches that are invisible and inactive may continue to stagnate. Moreover, a church's ONA status is one of the most important reasons, but not the only reason, it can attract new members." He adds, "and there are, of course, non-ONA churches that are healthy."
Lang recommends the Coalition's ONA 201 webinar ----- which shares best practices from vital and growing ONA congregations ----- and the resources at www.openandaffirming.org/next.
[from UCC Open and Affirming Coalition’s November 15 newsletter]