Worship: Experiencing God in Church?
By christopherlyon
A study released this month by The Barna Group gets into what people experience and/or feel when going to church. I think it raises as many questions about the point of church as it reveals about our experiences there, but there’s grist for good conversation here.
Should we expect to experience or “connect with” God as part of our weekly worship service?
Connecting with God is perhaps the most important outcome facilitated by churches. Most people (66%) feel they have had “a real and personal connection” with God while attending church. However, that means one-third of those who have attended a church in the past have never felt God’s presence while in a congregational setting. Also, when asked about frequency, most of those who have attended church describe these encounters as rare. One-third of all adults in the country report connecting with God at least monthly (35%) via a congregational setting. Among those who attend church every week, 44% said they experience God’s presence every week and 18% do so on a monthly basis.
You can read the rest of the results from the study over at barna.org.
