“… $67,000 worth of citation fines issued against them by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal OSHA) during the COVID-19 pandemic.pandemic…. The church continues its fight against another $1.2 million in fines by the county.” - MinistryWatch
“Looking back, nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults (72%) say the pandemic did more to drive the country apart than to bring it together.” - Pew
“The pandemic was brutal on churches, but even the year before, the number of Protestant congregations in the U.S. had gone backward by approximately 1,500.” - Religion Unplugged
By Brian Richard
For pastors, the last decade has presented a perfect storm of cultural upheaval, societal trends, and accelerated change. Pastors constantly face difficult and pressing questions about how to “do church” in the twenty-first century. Since the internet has fundamentally changed almost every aspect of our lives, many ask, “Why shouldn’t the church change too?”
“Measuring attendance, giving, staff levels, and several other metrics in 2022, he found that after all the regulations had been lifted …there was little to no discernible difference between churches where there had been lots of restrictions and those where there had been almost none.” - CToday
The Hartford Institute for Religion Research study found that “approximately one-third of the 4,809 churches in the study say their attendance has increased since the pandemic…more than half say they have suffered a slight or severe decline in attendance.” - CPost
“Currently, the COVID church dropouts resemble those who drop out of church attendance during their teenage and young adult years. Most haven’t made intentional decisions to no longer attend. They’ve simply gotten out of the habit” - Lifeway
“How things have changed: I can think of several ways in which the digital revolution, accelerated by COVID lockdowns, is still with us.” - Word by Word
“in three and a half years, the latest poll indicates, America seemed to change more drastically than it did in the prior 21 years. Of course, what happened in 2020, 2021, and 2022 was immense. Government-mandated shutdowns of schools and private businesses and forced mask-wearing….” - CPost
“Overall, most churchgoers—including most white evangelicals—returned to the pews after the pandemic, survey finds.” - CToday
