Church Attendance

"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. No church is perfect, so we began to ask the question: What exactly should we be looking for?" - 9 Marks

"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. Though half of practicing Christians (51%) keep up with online or in-person church on a weekly basis (compared to 37% of churched adults), the reported pandemic attendance of this usually committed group otherwise resembles churched adults at large." - Barna

"Like millennia of Christians before them, CHBC believes (as do I) that something that never assembles, such as separate services or sites, is not actually a church." - Jonathan Leeman

"Speaking on NPR’s 'Here & Now,' Barna president David Kinnaman said that based on trends both before and after the COVID-19 outbreak, American churches will look significantly different after the pandemic—and a fifth of them could close." - C. Leaders

"More than half of the group, 54%, indicated that they were 'very' satisfied while 37% said they were 'somewhat' satisfied.... most online worshipers said as soon as the pandemic is over they plan to return to in-person religious services ....Some 92% of this group said they expect to attend physical services at least as often as they did pre-pandemic." - C.Post

"It’s good to have a more accurate membership roll. But it’s best to pursue these non-attenders toward a specific end: removal if they’re attending another gospel-preaching church, restoration if they’re happy to return, and excommunication if they’re either unwilling to attend church anywhere or unable to be found." - 9 Marks