Church Size, Pastoral Humility, and Member Characteristics as Predictors of Church Commitment

Bibliographic Data

ID23252105
AuthorsDavid R Dunaetz (0000-0003-0991-897X, Azusa Pacific University), Melody Cullum (Corning (United States)), Edgar Barron (Azusa Pacific University)
Year2020
Publication date2020-02-21
Open AccessNo
TypePREPRINT
PublisherCenter for Open Science (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.31219/osf.io/zxc4t
OpenAlexW2920420960
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited16

Although wavering personal commitment to a local body of believers has been a concern of Christian leaders since New Testament times, increasing individualism and other cultural changes are affecting individual Christians’ commitment to their churches in new ways. This study examines church commitment using the multidimensional construct of organizational commitment to examine characteristics of churches, church leaders, and church members that may influence such commitment. Specifically, church size, perceptions of pastoral humility, church tenure (the time one has attended a church), age, and gender are considered as possible predictors of church commitment. This commitment is measured as affective commitment (one’s emotional attachment to the church), continuation commitment (the felt-need to stay at the church), and normative commitment (one’s belief that staying at the church is the right thing to do). In a study of evangelical Christians in the U.S. (N = 244), a regression analysis indicates that higher affective commitment is associated with perceptions of greater pastoral humility and member tenure. Continuation commitment decreases as church size goes up. Higher normative commitment is associated with perceptions of greater pastoral humility, smaller churches, and longer member tenure. Overall, higher church commitment is best predicted by perceptions of pastoral humility, then by tenure and church size, with larger churches having less committed attenders. No significant differences in church commitment were associated with age or gender.

Christianity · Humility · Individualism · Normative · Organizational commitment · Perception · Political science · Sociology · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Religious studies · Social Psychology