I'm going to print out this article from the Episcopal News Service for my church leaders, as well as the underlying study. Hartford Seminary, the leading students of American congregations, looked at the characteristics of churches they felt predicted growth or decline. ENS summarizes:

[T]he survey showed that the average so-called "mainline" congregation was less likely to grow than non-denominational, evangelical congregations. More surprising to many people, Hadaway said, is that Roman Catholic congregations are not growing in a way comparable to the increased number of Roman Catholics in the United States.

The report notes that "when all congregations are combined, there is very little relationship between growth and theological orientation. In fact, the proportion growing is highest on the two end points: predominantly conservative congregations and liberal congregations (growth rates of 38% and 39%, respectively)."

"More important than theological orientation is the religious character of the congregation and clarity of mission and purpose," the report continues. "Growing churches are clear about why they exist and about what they are to be doing."

Why the disparity between mainline and evangelical churches? According to the study, it isn't the politics or theology. Primarily, it's where the church is located (new suburbs are a great "mission field"), when the congregation was founded, how old its members are and how well they get along, and how "joyful" and "irreverent" their worship is. More points:

• Congregations that change worship format and style are more likely to grow. More than half the congregations that use contemporary styles of worship have experienced substantial growth since 2000. Frequency is important as well: The more worship services a congregation holds, the more likely it is to have grown. Over half of the congregations that use drums and or electric guitars often or always in their worship services have experienced "substantial growth" from 2000 to 2005, the report says. "The relationship is fairly strong in the overall set of congregations, but considerably stronger among evangelical churches and weakest among mainline churches," according to the report.

• Congregations located in new suburbs are more likely to experience growth. But surprisingly the second best area for growth is the downtown of metropolitan areas.

• Congregations that have experienced major conflict are quite likely to have declined in attendance. The strongest correlate of growth is the absence of serious conflict.

• Congregations that have started or maintained a website in the past year are most likely to grow. The effort to have a website indicates that the congregation is outward looking and willing to change by non-traditional means, the study found.

• While most congregations in America are composed of a single racial/ethnic group, those that are multi-racial are most likely to have experienced strong growth in worship attendance.

• More important than theological orientation is the religious character of the congregation and clarity of mission and purpose. Growing churches are clear about why they exist and about what they are to be doing.

• Congregations that involve children in worship are more likely to experience significant growth. Also, important to growth is the ability of congregations to attract young adults and children with families.

• Almost all congregations say they want to grow, but it takes intentionality and action for growth to occur. Congregations that developed a plan to recruit members in the last year were more likely to grow than congregations that had not. Particularly helpful in achieving growth are sponsorship of a program or event to attract non-members or the existence of support groups.

There's lots of good news here for mainline churches overall and for Salem in specific. (I'm not going to spell it out because I want them to discover it for themselves.) But for our purposes here at SP, this should be another nail in the Zombie Lie that Liberal Churches Don't Grow. They can grow, and so can conservative congregations, if they know what they're about, and have something to offer the people around them. Forget the culture war, forget even the worship wars: preach joyfully, take care of (and include) the kids, and settle disputes, and your church should be okay.

I do need to say one other thing, however. As Fred Clarkson and many others gathered at Talk to Action have documented, there has been a concerted effort over the past thirty years to foment conflict in mainline denominations to serve secular conservative political ends. That project has filtered down to the congregational level, creating or exacerbating existing divisions. They bear a certain responsibility for the decline of the mainline churches, in other words, both for sparking fights and for preventing less conservative churches from establishing and promoting a coherent identity. And as I recall, there was a religious leader a while back who had something to say about the kind of creep who would keep people away from God for their own purposes.