MEGACHURCHES AS SPECTATOR RELIGION: USING SOCIAL NETWORK THEORY AND FREE-RIDER THEORY TO UNDERSTAND THE SPIRITUAL VITALITY OF AMERICA’S LARGEST-ATTENDANCE CHURCHES BY Warren Bird BA, Wheaton College, 1978 MA, Wheaton College, 1979 M.Div, Alliance Theological Seminary, 1987 DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AT FORDHAM UNIVERSITY NEW YORK JANUARY, 2007 2 FORDHAM UNIVERSITY Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Date This dissertation prepared under my direction by: Warren Bird entitled: Megachurches as Spectator Religion: Using Social Network Theory and Free-Rider Theory to Understand the Spiritual Vitality of America’s Largest-Attendance Churches has been accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the Department of Sociology James R. Kelly (Co-Mentor) Mark S. Massa (Co-Mentor) Evelyn L. Bush (Reader) Michael W. Cuneo (Reader) 3 DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to God to so many people who have been part of this project, including many personal friends who have prayed regularly for me. This dissertation is dedicated to my wonderful wife Michelle, my life partner and friend, whose love for me and support of my doctoral studies helped me achieve this most challenging dream. I also wish to acknowledge the significant personal mentoring from my “dream team” of Fordham professors, all with most gifted minds and gracious sprits: Dr. James R. Kelly, Dr. Mark S. Massa, Dr. Evelyn L. Bush, and Dr. Michael W Cuneo, plus the skilled help and caring interest by my statistics coach, Dr. Marc Glassman. From all of you I learned far more than you will ever know. Finally many thanks to Dave Travis, Tom Wilson, and Leadership Network, and to Dr. Scott Thumma at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research for their assistance, personal interest, and enthusiastic support. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS....................................................3 TABLE OF CONTENTS.........................................................................................4 LIST OF TABLES...................................................................................................7 PREFACE................................................................................................................9 Ethnography of Two Megachurches............................................................9 Second Stop: Washington DC ...................................................................13 Insider’s Approach to Megachurch Study .................................................21 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION..........................................................................25 Megachurches as a Rising Social Phenomenon.........................................24 Statement of the Research Problem ...........................................................45 Importance of the Problem.........................................................................49 Dissertation Overview ...............................................................................56 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND THEORY..............................59 Social Explanations....................................................................................60 Social Network Theory..............................................................................61 Rational Choice Theory .............................................................................70 Congregational Studies ..............................................................................82 Summary of What Is Known and Unknown about the Topic....................88 5 CHAPTER 3: HYPOTHESES AND METHODOLOGY.....................................90 Research Questions, Population, and Hypotheses .....................................90 Quantitative Research Instrument and Methodology ................................93 Why FACT2000 Was Best for This Research.........................................102 Reliability, Validity and Limits of FACT2000 and Sample Groups Drawn from It..........................................................106 Qualitative Research Instrument and Methodology ................................114 CHAPTER 4: QUANTITATIVE FINDINGS.....................................................118 Summary of Topic and Hypotheses.........................................................118 Source of the Data....................................................................................119 General Description of the Data ..............................................................120 Summary of Findings...............................................................................131 Alternate Explanations.............................................................................153 CHAPTER 5: QUALITATIVE FINDINGS........................................................167 Comparison to FACT2000.......................................................................178 General Observations...............................................................................179 Typology for Involvement .......................................................................186 Reflections ...............................................................................................191 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.......................193 Summary of Conclusions.........................................................................195 Review of Hypotheses and Findings........................................................197 Strengths, Weaknesses, and Limitations of the Study .............................198 Recommendations....................................................................................200 Contributions to the Literature.................................................................203 6 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................205 APPENDICES .....................................................................................................218 A. Quantitative Survey Instrument ..........................................................218 B. Qualitative Interview Questions..........................................................231 C. Informed Consent................................................................................234 D. Pictorial Overview of Megachurches..................................................235 ABSTRACT VITA 7 LIST OF TABLES Page TABLE 0.1 COMPARISON OF TWO MEGACHURCHES AT WORSHIP......18 TABLE 1.1 LARGE CHURCHES OF THE 1800s..............................................33 TABLE 4.1 MEGACHURCHES COMPARED TO NON-MEGACHURCHES FOR SELECT DEMOGRAPHICS .........................129 TABLE 4.2 MEGACHURCHES COMPARED TO NON-MEGACHURCHES FOR RACE AND GEOGRAPHIC REGION .........130 TABLE 4.3 MEGACHURCHES COMPARED TO ALL NON-MEGACHURCHES FOR CHURCH -FOCUSED GROUPS...................134 TABLE 4.4 MEGACHURCHES COMPARED TO LARGER NON-MEGACHURCHES^ FOR CHURCH -FOCUSED GROUPS..................137 TABLE 4.5 MEGACHURCHES COMPARED TO ALL NON-MEGACHURCHES FOR COMMUNITY -FOCUSED GROUPS.............140 TABLE 4.6 MEGACHURCHES COMPARED TO LARGER NON-MEGACHURCHES^ COMMUNITY -FOCUSED GROUPS....................143 TABLE 4.7 MEGACHURCHES COMPARED TO NON-MEGACHURCHES ON STATEMENT “OUR CONGREGATION IS WORKING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE” ..........................144 TABLE 4.8 MEGACHURCHES COMPARED TO NON-MEGACHURCHES FOR EMPHASIS ON EXPECTED PARTICIPATION .....................................147 TABLE 4.9 LEVEL OF STATED EMOTIONAL AGREEMENT FOR ATTENDEES OF MEGACHURCHES VS. NON-MEGACHURCHES...........151 TABLE 4.10 MODEL-BASED, PREDICTED MEAN PARTICIPATION......152 SCORES TABLE TABLE 4.11 CHURCH ATTENDANCE BY DENOMINATION, ACCORDING TO 2006 GALLUP RESEARCH................................................154 TABLE 4.12 THEOLOGY AS INDICATED BY LEVEL OF RITUAL AND DENOMINATIONAL GROUP.................................................................158 8 TABLE 4.13 RITUAL IN MEGACHURCHES BY DENOMINATIONAL CLUSTER............................................................................................................159 TABLE 4.14 REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF PARTICIPATION OPPORTUNITIES ON CHURCH SIZE CONTROLLING FOR RITUAL AND THEOLOGICAL GROUP .........................................................161 TABLE 4.15 REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF PARTICIPATION OPPORTUNITIES ON CHURCH SIZE CONTROLLING FOR THEOLOGY AS PRACTICE .............................................................................163 TABLE 4.16 REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF PARTICIPATION OPPORTUNITIES ON CHURCH SIZE CONTROLLING FOR REGION OF COUNTRY, SECTION OF TOWN, RACE, AND THEOLOGY ..............................................................................................166 TABLE 5.1 PROFILE COMPARISON OF FACT2000 MEGACHURCHES TO INTERVIEW MEGACHURCHES...............................................................179 9 PREFACE To introduce the topic of study, this preface offers a participant-observer snapshot of worship at two different megachurches. Then the researcher’s biases are voiced and acknowledged, along with perspective on how these biases might affect the analysis and interpretations offered in the dissertation. Ethnography of Two Megachurches Traffic was quite thin in Richmond, Virginia, on Sunday morning February 12, 2006, until my colleague and I drove within a few hundred yards of St. Paul’s Baptist Church. At that point cars began to queue up to use the main entrance