What if I told you the last time there was a meaningful survey of what worship music looked like in the life of SBC churches was in 1938? I’d be telling you the truth. At that time just over 1,000+ Southern Baptist churches participated. It asked about 24 questions related to music and worship practice.
Topics included instruments, budgets for music, choirs, and music leadership. It was this survey that served as the catalyst for installing BB. McKinney to assist the Sunday School Board in the area of music and worship ministry. The history of state worship consultants and Lifeway Worship can ultimately be traced back to this monumental study.
A lot has changed since 1938, and to say we are overdue would be an understatement.
That’s why I’m so excited to announce the SBC WORSHIP: CONGREGATIONS AND LEADERSHIP STUDY.
Conducted by the SBC Worship Research Committee, which exists to serve the church by providing research-driven insights that encourage healthy, biblically faithful worship. Your participation in this survey will help us better understand current trends and practices regarding church music and worship in Southern Baptist churches.
This survey will be open, now through the end of April, where we will first share insights at the SBC Worship Micro conference happening in partnership with the SBC Pastors conference. Friends, God is moving in incredible ways, and our hope is that thousands of churches will respond. So share this with a ministry leader because we want your voice included in this study. Together we are SBC Worship.”
More about the survey
This survey is conducted by the SBC Worship Research Committee, which exists to serve the church by providing research-driven insights that encourage healthy, biblically-faithful worship. The survey is funded and sponsored by SBC Worship in conjunction with The Worship Initiative. Your participation in this survey will help us better understand current trends and practices regarding church music and worship in Southern Baptist churches.
The survey should take roughly 10–15 minutes to complete. The majority of the questions involve selecting answers from a list. Please select the answer that best describes your congregation and your church’s leadership. If you are dissatisfied with the available answers, please select “none of these” or “other.”
The focus of this survey is worship and church music practices in Southern Baptist churches, and this survey is intended only for churches affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. If your church is not affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention at a state or national level, please do not take this survey.
The ideal candidate for filling out this survey is the worship leader, music minister, or senior pastor of your congregation. Regardless of who fills out the survey, we only need one response per church. For multisite congregations, we generally ask that only one person complete the survey as a representative of your church.
Any information gathered in this survey is completely confidential and will remain private. At the end of the survey, we offer you the option to provide us with your email address. Your email address allows us to follow up with you as needed regarding your answers, to notify you of the survey results when they are available, and to provide you with additional research study opportunities like this in the future. Your responses—including your church name, your church location, and your email—will not be included in any publication of the findings from this survey.
The SBC Worship Research Committee will share results and analysis from this survey on June 8 at the SBC Worship Micro Conference 2026. If you are in Orlando for this year’s SBC Annual Meeting, please make plans to join us as we discuss our findings. If you have any additional questions about the survey or its uses, please contact the SBC Worship Research Committee via email at research@worshipinitiative.com.
Chessa Williams (California Baptist University)
Andrew McKinney (The Worship Initiative)
