Emerging Patterns of Church Participation. The Community Movement in the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland

Abstract

This article examines an emerging "community movement" in the national Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Finland. Emerging from the local level, with links to wider renewal networks across Protestant Churches, the movement consists of a variation of 30-40 worship communities that are based on strong roles for laymen, challenging the traditional models of church life. Many communities are expanding and drawing young adults, in contrast to general developments in the Church. This article asks: What kinds of patterns of participation exist among the members and how are they related to experiences of membership? The results of a quantitative survey (N=529), conducted 2017, revealed three types of participation: "traditional," "community-oriented" and "experiential." The main finding is the distinct community process typical to these communities, which is connected to a strong sense of membership, commitment, and contentment, and which is actualized through lay participation. The article sheds light on the developments in a specific Nordic majority church in response to a changing cultural environment.

Changing values and religiosity: the case of the emerging Community movement in the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland

“…Table 3 presents the resulting three clusters. The decisive role of active religious participation in the types of value orientation is in line with findings reported in another article based on this data, as noted in the introductory section of this article (Hannikainen 2020). Given that the higher levels of participation (mean value above 4) seemed to indicate the "community-oriented" participation type, a final table of correlation coefficients between the Participation variable and individual value preferences was compiled (see Figure 5).…”

“…The "community-oriented" type, in turn, emphasises active involvement and lay agency in the community, whereas the "experiential" type promotes active attendance at worship services but weak commitment to personal devotion and community participation. (Hannikainen 2020) This typology of NCW members could enhance the interpretation of the results reported in this article.…”

“…In the third phase of the analysis, referring to results reported in another article on NCWs (Hannikainen 2020), the variation in value patterns was attributed not only to theological orientation, but beyond that to the different orientations to religion and religious participation. Among the three different types of NCW participants identified in previous research, the "community-oriented" seemed to be more progressive in their value orientations and they were also driven by Achievement value, whereas those who represented the "traditional" Lutheran pattern of Church attendance were more conservative.…”