THE ATTENDING NONMEMBER: AN EXAMINATION OF A NEGLECTED POPULATION (CONGREGATIONS)
Abstract
Most of the work in the sociology of religion has ignored individuals who, although they attend regularly, are not members of the local church. This work examines these Attending Nonmembers in a number of ways. A secondary analysis of the 1971 Detroit Area Study found these people to be single and younger than members. Data collected from 62 Protestant congregations in Kankakee County, Illinois found Attending Nonmembers more often in conservative churches and less often in highly liturgical churches. Three pastoral interviews and nineteen Attending Nonmember interviews examined the barriers to membership and the negotiations that attempted to overcome these barriers. The ministers were found to have done very little negotiation, leaving the Attending Nonmembers in their transitional status for long periods of time. This has implications for the nature of membership as well as for the ability of churches to persuade individuals to behave in certain ways.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
Sociology|Religion
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