Church Attendance

“To truly understand how healthy we are as a church we have to know how we are caring for the three circles of people we are called to shepherd; our neighbors, our followers and our disciples.” - C.Leaders

“Our information at this point is both early and anecdotal, but we are hearing from numerous pastors that many church members who were frequent in their church attendance are now once-a-monthers. This observation lends itself to many questions. Is this trend temporary, one that will improve as COVID concerns wane?” - Thom Rainer

“…while the focus here is on church attendance, it’s logical to conclude that individuals who felt comfortable going back to weekend worship were also more willing to engage in other social activities. It is therefore difficult to isolate whether church attendance was the vector that most likely spread the infection” - The Conversation

“The Good: Two-Thirds of Churched Adults Feel “Encouraged” After Worship Services….The Bad: Half of Churched Adults Feel “Disappointed” After Church at Least Sometimes” - Barna

“This year, the majority of pastors (80%) [are] excited to celebrate Easter with congregants inside their church buildings with COVID-19 precautions in place. Another one in five (22%) [are] meeting outdoors to accommodate social distancing during the worship service.” - Barna

“More than half of evangelicals will be back in person, but most Catholics and black and mainline Protestants are still waiting to return.” - C.Today

Related: Pew Research report

“As we walked through the doors of various new churches, struck up conversations with believers, and sat under preaching from different teachers, we wrestled with the line between preference and belief, between well-meaning mediocrity and maturing faithfulness to the Word of God.

“If you want people who are concerned about COVID-19 to return, do everything in your power to make your church as safe as you can.” - F&T

“TGC asked five pastors how they’ve been using the relative safety of outdoors, how the weather is a challenge, and how they’re thinking creatively about the changing seasons.” - TGC

“Data show that, as of September 2020, about one in five of those who would normally be defined as churchgoers (22% churched adults, 19% practicing Christians) says they have “never” attended a service during the pandemic, either in person or digitally.