Renew the Table: Some Supper Stats

Renew the Table is a series of thoughts and opinions concerning the renewal of the Lord's Supper. For more information please see Goals and Disclaimers. Especially since this one is a little baptisty...and mathy. 

A Lifeway survey came out in two years ago highlighting the Lord’s Supper in Baptist worship. Questions were asked of a sampling of pastors regarding open communion and how often communion is served. When the survey came out the internet seemingly exploded in debate regarding open communion verses closed communion. Although it’s good to discuss that issue, I found the other question regarding frequency (and the lack of concern after the study was released) more revealing.

Over half (57%) of the responders indicated that they only serve communion Quarterly. As you can see, this number alone towers over those who indicated they serve Weekly (1%) or Monthly (18%). The two other categories indicated churches were partaking 5-10 times per year (15%) or less than 4 times per year (8%). 

The “5-10 times” crowd and the “0-3 times” folks can be viewed basically as satellites of the Quarterly group. It would be reasonable to assume that the majority of the “5-10 times” crowd is likely including their holiday communion (ie. Quarterly communion plus Easter and/or Christmas) and the “less than 4” group is probably only serving communion around the holidays (ie. 1-2 times per year). Due to this reasoning, and for our purposes we can combine these two groups into one, (call them the “Holiday” group) with the understanding that they serve the Lord’s Supper roughly 6 or less times during the year, with the majority serving it 4 times.

With that bit of reasonable conjecture, and with the understanding that the Holidays are the moons to the Quarterly planet, we begin to see an even more drastic picture. We can roughly divide the Southern Baptist Churches in to three camps regarding frequency in communion: Weekly (1%), Monthly (18%), and Quarterly/Holiday (80%). 

Playing with Numbers

Let’s imagine four people, all of whom became a Christian at the age of 20. Let’s say each of these people began worshiping at a different SBC church. Quinn joins up at First Baptist Quarterly. Max becomes a member of Monthly Community. Will worships at Weekly Fellowship. And Hank joins Holiday Baptist, a sister church of Quarterly. Now imagine the wholly unrealistic scenario that each of these men are able to attend every Sunday gathering that is held at their respective places of worship for the next fifty years. And so that everyone is on the same playing field, let’s say that each church partakes the Lord's Supper in the same manner and each is undergirded with a sound, gospel-centered communion theology.

Let’s see how many times each one is able to partake of the Lord’s Supper as the years accumulate.

	How often each man partakes
	4x a year	6x a year	12x a year	52x a year
Age | years at church	Quarterly Quinn	Holiday Hank	Monthly Max	Weekly Will
21 | 1 year	4	6	12	52
22 | 2 years	8	12	24	104
23 | 3 years	12	18	36	156
24 | 4 years	16	24	48	208
25 | 5 years	20	30	60	260

Five years in and we already see a stark difference. Will has partaken 260 times compared to Quinn who has only partaken 20 times. In fact after 5 years, both Hank and Quinn combined have not partaken as much as Will had in his first year as a Christian. Again, assuming sound theology, and knowing that worship is formative, what conclusions might we draw from this? 

Before we draw conclusions, let’s gaze farther into the future:

	How often each man partakes
	4x a year	6x a year	12x a year	52x a year
Age | years at church	Quarterly Quinn	Holiday Hank	Monthly Max	Weekly Will
30 | ten years	40	60	120	570
40 | twenty years	80	120	240	1040
50 | thirty years	120	180	360	1560
60 | forty years	160	240	480	2080
70 | fifty years	200	300	600	2600

By the time Quinn turns 30 he still hasn't celebrated communion as much as Will had ten years ago in his first year as a Christian. Once Quinn has hit 70 years of age he would have partaken only 200 times. Which is still less than the amount of times Will had partaken when Will was the ripe old age of 24! The cumulative effect of weekly communion is quite staggering.

Think long and hard about it. Quinn has been going to church for 50 years. He is a 70 year old man. Will has been going to church for 4 years. He is a 24 year old man. And Will has partaken more than Quinn.

Also, remember these numbers indicate the wholly unrealistic scenario that each man attended every communion service until they were 70 year old men. This means that Quarterly Quinn would have to attend every single communion service for 50 years in order to have partaken 200 times. How monumental is it then for him to miss a service? If Quinn missed communion in the Second Quarter, he’ll have to wait months before the Supper is served again. If Will missed communion, he has to only wait a few days. Again, assuming a sound theology in both cases, what would the formative effect be for each of these men?

Let's Keep Playing with Numbers

The Southern Baptist Convention released an Annual Church Profile in 2012. This record indicates that in 2012 roughly 6 million Southern Baptists attended worship each week. Using the three groups we identified above (Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly/Holiday) let’s extrapolate these percentages across the SBC.

On any given week there were 6 million Southern Baptists in attendance for worship. Let’s say it’s the first Sunday of the new Quarter, which lands on the first Sunday of the Month. According to the numbers nearly 6 million members of churches associated with the SBC will be partaking communion.

Now let’s move a month later. The Quarterly group is not partaking, but the Weekly and Monthly members are. Of the 6 million members in the SBC, only 1,140,000 members are now partaking. That’s a drop off of 81%.

Now let’s move to the following week, the second Sunday of the month. Neither the Quarterly nor the Monthly members are partaking. Now of the 6 million members attending worship this week only 60,000 people will be celebrating the Supper. That is equal to the weekly attendance of just a couple Texas megachurches.

Out of 46,034 churches (in 2012) that’s only 460 churches across the nation. Just for a little perspective, in the state I live in, Missouri, in 2012 there were 1,859 SBC churches. In the counties comprising Kansas City Metro alone (in 2010) there were 313 SBC churches.

For comparison, out of 46,034 SBC churches in 2012:

Number of SBC churches serving communion weekly: 460 (1%)

Number of SBC churches serving communion monthly: 8286 (18%)

Number of SBC churches serving communion Quarterly +and/or Holiday: 36,826 (80%)

An astoundingly low number of churches in the SBC serve communion weekly, while the number of Quarterly/Holiday observing churches is through the roof. 

What Do These Numbers Tell Us?

If belief informs practice, then what can we infer from this study? For one, infrequent observance of the Lord’s Supper must indicate a belief that does not place an emphasis on the Lord’s Supper as an important or vital element of weekly gathered worship. Notice I did not say they believe it to be unimportant or non-vital. Based on the numbers I just can’t say that. Numbers tell us “what” not “why”. And what the numbers say is that the majority of SBC churches do not believe the Lord’s Supper to be an element of worship important or vital enough to conduct for at least 48 weeks out of the year.

This all touches on what I said the yesterday when I put forward the notion that practice is the effect of a held belief. The frequency in which a church serves the Supper is an indication of a church’s theology and understanding of communion.

Indication is a key word. We gain knowledge from indicators. When the engine light comes on, there isn’t anything wrong with the dashboard; it is an indicator that something is wrong with the engine. When a boy gives a girl a rose it is an indicator that he wants her to be his sweetheart. We should also be careful to remember that while indicators are important, sometimes they don’t tell us the whole story.

A man who has told his wife he loves her every day of their marriage has abruptly stopped telling her so in the last few days. This indicates to us that something has changed but it doesn't tell us why the change has occurred. For that we must investigate further. Perhaps he fell ill and in his misery understandably forgot to say the familiar words. Perhaps he’s having an affair with his secretary. Perhaps she’s having an affair with the mailman and he found out. Perhaps he's getting lazy. There could be a thousand reasons, but the important thing is that the indicator is what led us to investigate further. One more thing. While we may not know the whole story about Why the man stopped telling his wife he loves her, we do know enough about the What (he stopped) to know that things have not changed for the better.

So when I say “the infrequent observance of the Lord’s Supper must indicate a belief that does not place an emphasis on the Lord’s Supper as an important or vital element of weekly gathered worship,” I cannot tell you, based on the numbers alone, why this is the case. But I can take those numbers and place them in the context of Scripture and Church history, and when I do I see a vast divergence. We need to investigate.

Shepherding Affections

I was digging around some old digital files earlier and I came across this email I had saved. At the time it was written I was still serving as Worship Pastor and was a part of an email conversation between the elders thinking about cultivating affections in worship.

It was written 7 weeks before I stepped down so unfortunately it was a conversation (for me) that stalled. But as I re-read it I found it surprisingly thought provoking and something I'd like to investigate further. I raised a few questions that I haven't been able to answer yet, (like, how do you teach someone to wonder?) but I think they are questions that can help lead to a good answer. Anyway, I offer it here in full (with brief insertions for clarity) in hopes that it might encourage you and assist folks in shepherding the affections of their flock.

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hey gang.

I've been mulling this over in my mind for a while too. Here are simply just some thoughts that have occurred to me.

I think we know the what (cultivating the affections) but achieving it is another playing field. As leaders, I don't believe it is our duty or place to be the cause or manufacturers of emotions of our people. I think we all agree on this. But it is our place to point them to the cause and source which can give life to the affections (and not just simply point them, but to nurture them in the affections and aid in their development). So I don't think our 'success' or 'failure' rests in whether or not our people respond with the proper affections. That's a helpful indicator, but not the goal. Our 'goal' and the measure of our success and failure in the realm of affections, I believe, is how well we show, reveal, clarify, explain, display, Christ. Essentially, how well we point to Christ and how well we cultivate a lifestyle of proper affections. That is the real challenge.

I can't help but think of my children (especially in light of our efforts to benefit the spiritually young). I can show my kids something I think is amazing and be underwhelmed by their 'whoopdee doo' response. On some level, it's up to me to cultivate their understanding in such a way that they then have the ability to view it with an appropriate level of awe. I showed Adison [my eldest daughter] a picture of a mountain in New Zealand yesterday. I was blown away by the beauty of the picture, the immensity of the mountain, the beauty of the snowy peak above and the lush green below. I said, 'look at this!' and she said, 'eh' and walked away. If I were really serious about getting her to see the same beauty I was seeing I would really have to sit down and think for a bit, especially on her level, to come up with a way to show her, "here's why it's amazing". This, actually, now that I think about it, might take two minutes or twelve years. And then I'd have to start again with Noah [my son] and the other kids (but perhaps by the time Willow [my fourth child] comes around to appreciating the beauty, she has grown up in an environment where the whole household provides the example and the painstaking explanations that initially started with kid #1 aren't as necessary with kid #4?). And of course there's always the possibility that one of my kids, no matter what I do, will never give a flip about a beautiful mountain. If that's the case, I think my job still remains, to try to cultivate an understanding in such a way that they then have the ability to view beautiful things with an appropriate level of awe.

Ultimately it is about getting them to see the mountain and gasp without my explanations and reasonings and such, so that they will have a proper response throughout their lifetime without my aid. (it just occurred to me that perhaps the best way might not even be explanations--though that is often a necessary and worthy route--but rather to just take them to see the mountains in real life, up close and personal. That blows my explanations of why the picture is amazing right out of the water.) Hopefully cultivating affections and wonder at an early age will establish a lifetime of astonishment. It's the whole 'teach a man to fish' thing. Show a man a wonder and he'll praise God for a day. Teach a man to wonder and he'll praise God his whole life (because wonder, after all, is simply involuntary praise). Showing the wonder/beauty/amazing truth is necessary and needs to happen, but it is far greater to teach a man to wonder, to feel the stab of beauty, to cry or sing amazing truth on his own alongside you.

Translating this theme (cultivating affections for those unaware or indignant or immature or whathaveyou) to worship would seem easy enough (just show them Jesus!) but it's pretty difficult. It's the same as me showing the picture to Adison. It's amazing sure, and folks might be awed by it (since they are able to rightly be awed). And that's where we find ourselves now I'd reckon. I think we have done a noble job thus far simply showing and displaying Jesus as amazing and worthy of our affections in worship. And those of us who are able to be amazed, or whatever the appropriate emotion might be, may not have a hard time doing so. But I think the difficult part, the part that prompts us to pray and write emails about it and be concerned for the flock, I think is this idea of how do we cultivate an understanding in such a way that they then have the ability to view the beauty, truth, and goodness of Christ with the appropriate affections.

I am going to continue to think through this, but maybe one place where we can start (the obvious place) is ourselves. Think through what you find amazing about Christ. Specific stuff. What makes your heart leap when you ponder it. What catches your breath? It doesn't always have to be doctrine. It could be that mountain, right? Then (and here I'm not sure just yet) I think it might be helpful to our people if we begin to share with our people what amazes us, or shocks us, or grieves us, or causes joy, etc. Not necessarily what should cause joy or what should amaze us. And I'm not necessarily thinking it should be presented as in a personal testimony or anything, but that our speech, when we speak of our desire, would be full of flavor when we speak about it. It's like when you tell someone, "Try the steak". The way you say it reveals your love for it, your desire for them to participate in the same experience you've had, even though you never said you've tried the steak for yourself. It's just evident that you did.

My problem, I'll confess, is simply expressing that in a public way. Not that I fear it, but that I'm a tongue tied, rambling speaker. My points become less clear and more muddled. No doubt a bit more discipline on my part to prepare my thoughts beforehand would be a great benefit. Prayer would be appreciated here for me in that.

But to bring this behemoth full circle and maybe in sum:

1) we have a job to do regarding the affections (I was convinced for a long time we didn't): that job is to point clearly to the truth, goodness, and beauty of Christ and aid in cultivating the affections of our people. 

2) the right affections of our people ought to be a helpful indicator but not be the measure of our 'success'. When it becomes the measure/the ultimate goal, we will always, always manipulate and try in our own strength to produce the effects (and usually with spectacular 'success' or 'failure'. but I digress...)

3) cultivating the affections is deep and continuous, like training children, it has to be a 'lifestyle' of the church and her leadership, always cultivating, always being amazed, always on the lookout for wonder in everything

4) don't be content to just show people a wonder, teach people to wonder

Anyway, that's how I approach this. I think it helps us attack the issue from a proper angle. Looking forward to digging through this will all of you.

thoughts? pushbacks? etc?

your longwinded brother,

Rich

Directions for Singing: Part 1 - Learn These Tunes

Yesterday we looked briefly at all seven of Wesley’s Directions for Singing and some of his reasons for giving them. Today I’ll ruminate and gab about his first point.

1. Learn these Tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please.

As we begin, we should remember is that Wesley was writing this in a hymn book for Methodists. “These Tunes” are Methodist tunes. The thing we ought to glean from that is that Wesley is concerned for a particular people. Any pastor or leader has the same concern for their flock. Any parent has the same concern for their children. Wesley wants his people to learn these tunes for two reasons: 1) to disseminate doctrine, and 2) to establish a pattern for formation.

First, “these Tunes” were important because they contained doctrine. So the thought goes, if you learn these first then you’re starting out on the right foot. There is a bit of walk before you run going on here. Here are the fundamental things we want you to learn and to meditate on. Get these down pat. Once they are drilled into your brain to where you are singing them in your sleep, then go ahead and start learning other songs. An important thing to remember is that these tunes aren't just stepping stones to some greater doctrine of God. These contain the truth of the gospel that we never move beyond. Wesley is trying to establish a foundation to build upon, not a game of hopscotch where we start at #1 and move on.

Secondly, “these Tunes” were important to learn first because they established the rhythm of their worship. Learning the same songs and learning them well has a formative effect on people. This is the soil of tradition. The people learning “these Tunes” will have a common language and share a common bond in their fellowship, and this language and these bonds are passed down to their children. On a grand scale it’s similar to Christmas Carols. Almost everyone can join in without the aid of a book. These songs not only aid in worship and praise, but are used to build up the body. People can use their in-common language to minister to one another. When someone you love dies, these songs give you a voice to sing. And if you can’t sing because the pain is so deep, the body of Christ can sing for you and to you. When the kindness and goodness of God rushes upon you like a burst of fragrant spring air, these songs can give you voice of thanksgiving. 

I find that I can relate to a high degree with the idea of learning “these Tunes” before learning any others. Five years ago or so, I was leading worship for a relatively new congregation. There was no clear direction or long view regarding what songs they would sing as they gathered. As I stepped into the role the first thing I sought to do was to develop a repertoire of common songs. I came up with about 65 hymns I felt were solid songs of truth and beauty and for a little over a year they were the only songs we sang. Even within the relatively small number of 65 songs I narrowed the focus even more. About 40 of those songs immediately became ‘core’ and so we sang these songs over and over. We learned “these Tunes” before any other.

And we did learn more songs. Once the congregation began to take ownership of these tunes it actually became easier to introduce new songs. These new songs were used because the occasion required it or because I was seeking to lead the people to fresh fields of truth and beauty. Happily some of these new songs would eventually become one of our ‘core’ songs. One of the fascinating things that resulted from this (and perhaps this was part of the method—heh—to Wesley’s madness) was that our congregation sang the ‘core’ songs better and louder, with more focus and enthusiasm than the other songs, every time. I continued to develop and build our song base, and continued to expand our ‘core’ songs. By the time I stepped down our ‘core’ songs had increased to around 85 songs.

I actually didn't learn this from Wesley. I think I picked it up from Bob Kauflin. But it’s the same principle and it was extremely beneficial to me as a leader and to our congregation. It infused doctrine and it established a pattern for formation in weekly worship. It is at the same time exciting and sobering to imagine what effect these songs might have on the seven year old who is sitting in the pew. Will he sing these songs to voice his joy and thanksgiving? Will he pass them on to his kids? Will God use these songs to sustain him in the trials to come? When I'm dead and long gone, and when he is old and grey, raspy of voice and shaky of hand, only moments away from death, will these songs, like a whisper, pass over his lips as he enters into glory?