Church Attendance during Christmas in the Netherlands: Does supply of Services have an Effect?

Abstract

In this paper a specific part of the supply side theory is tested, namely the influence of market strategies of religious organizations on religious participation under comparable circumstances. We investigated whether a larger number of services parishes offer during Christmas results in higher levels of church attendance. Our data stem from a broad dutch parish monitor. We performed a rather conservative test by controlling for various variables, as the general demand (number of parishioners and church attendance during weekends) and the church attendance during Christmas 5 years earlier. The effect of the number of services still was significant and substantial. In future research, data on the more regular activities of the parishes will be collected and analyzed. Thereby the macrolevel will be included, which means the question under which circumstances parishes are inclined to offer more or less services.