Hasana and Rodney Sisco spoke to the audience about best practices in worship today. (Photo by Cathy Janek / for Chronicle Media)

From  small storefront gatherings to sprawling mega-congregations,  churches in different denominations are taking steps to fill their pews on Sunday mornings.

An all-day workshop held last month at North Central College aimed at working with local churches to promote effective gatherings.

It was organized by the nonprofit group, Worship Alive, founded by Dr. Everton Walters in 2017.

“We believe we have a lack of attendance in church because we have lost the drive to worship God and instead have focused on providing a performance-based service over one centered in spirituality,” he said. “We want to bring that concept of spirituality back into churches.”

Married couple Hasana and Rodney Sisco formed a consulting organization, the PennaSis Group, to provide services to promote the “best practices” for many different types of organizations including churches.

The couple spoke to the group of worship leaders —who varied between choir leaders to church directors —about factors that can inhibit churches including: lack of resources, clashing personalities, lack of collaboration within the pastoral team, ministry burnout and lack of preparation.

Hasana Sisco, who also had a career in the corporate world, said these following factors can be critical to a successful and meaningful worship service:

• Cheerful greeters/ushers
• Relaxed atmosphere
• Engaging messages and delivery
• Musical selections that encourage participation
• Lyrics for all songs and liturgy on overhead
• Use of Video and engaging graphics
• Engage youth

“Be in sync with the message,” she said. “If you want to create a meaningful experience, be passionate.”

Most importantly Sisco said church leaders “must encourage and equip the entire worship team.  Don’t ignore them as tools to your end. Give members of the team opportunities to shine—not because they are stars but because they are human beings.”

How one big congregation manages

With approximately 5,000 members, Naperville’s Good Shepherd Lutheran Church doesn’t share the same problem as some other area churches.

As many area congregations struggle to maintain a solid membership and a steady group of committed volunteers, Good Shepherd remains one of the largest churches that comprise the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

But even a seemingly healthy church can’t sit on its laurels, according to Ryan Hammer, a Director of Worship with Good Shepherd.

Hammer’s involvement with the church began as a child and he’s seen the church’s membership more than triple from 1,500 congregants.

But even with a growing member base, it is still necessary to “constantly trying to change our approach to reach more people in our community.”

Hammer said other forces in society and culture “try to grab your attention to the next new thing.  Our intentions or motivations often get hijacked by that and spiritual distractedness comes into play.

Hammer said, as a church “it is our goal to reach [the church’s vision statement] and create and build relationships with people and God.”

But these days, faith “just keeps going down the totem pole in importance,” he said.

Throughout the local area, Hammer said approximately 60 percent of the population is considered “unchurched.”

At one time, numerous Americans carved out a portion of their weekend for time to worship. But over the last 50 years that number has dwindled. Blame sleeping in, shopping, sports, or preparing for the coming week as often taking precedence.

A Pew Research Center survey conducted last year indicated that about 27 percent of U.S. adults considered “themselves as spiritual but not religious”—a figure that increased 7 percent in five years.

And, Hammer says that is concerning because “when we choose to live an isolated spiritual life we are missing out on a huge portion of living a life of faith” that includes “sharing what you have with others and encouraging one another.”

Gallup Polls first noted a trend in declining church attendance among Catholics in the United States between the 1950s and the 1970s–a trend that has continued.

A recent Gallup survey, found that approximately 39 percent of Catholics reported attending church in the past seven days—down from an average of 45 percent from 2005 to 2008.

Statistics from the General Social Survey, a group which monitors societal change, found that in 1972  9 percent of respondents said they never attend religious services. 

In 2016, that number equaled 25 percent.

—Congregations small and large seek ways to draw new members, keep  others coming back for more–