Who’s running this place?

Use of Democratic Practices in the Church (June 1, 2023)

Most people demand democracy, but few people like it.  Democracy is messy and polarizing.  It’s raucous and cringe-worthy.  Democracy often breaks down, allowing special interests to dominate decision making.  Democracy allows everyone to have a say, even though a large percentage usually forego the opportunity and many who exercise it are less than knowledgeable of the workings of the nation or organization being governed.

There is a lot of room to debate the propriety and use of democratic practices in churches and denominations.  It usually comes down to religious interpretation and philosophy.  I’m not going to add my opinions into this mine-field.  But it would be interesting to compare church polity to church success, as measured through attendance.

I have prepared the following table based on my research on and view of the polity of various church denominations.  (There is room for disagreement in these categorizations as some churches have characteristics of more than one structure.)  Next to each listed denomination is the results of a 2017 to 2019 Statistics Canada poll1 indicating the percentage of people who identify with a denomination and said they participate “In groups at least once a month.”