A new Exponential study conducted by Lifeway reports that church growth and decline after the pandemic are “almost evenly split.”
Over a two-year period, U.S. Protestant pastors report slightly more than
half of the congregations (52%) increased their worship service attendance by at least 4%. Post-pandemic, 33% of churches have plateaued, remaining within the 4% margin of growth, or declined by at least 4% (15%).
Respondents report that larger churches continue to see an increase in attendees while smaller churches are becoming smaller. Churches that have grown by 4% since the pandemic have 100-250 people in attendance. Congregations with more than 250 attendees (62%) and those with 100 to 250 people in a worship service (59%) are more likely than churches with 50 to 99 participants (45%) or those with fewer than 50 people (23%) in attendance to be growing by 4% or more.
Evangelical pastors report slightly more church growth than mainline pastors, 57% to 46%, respectively. Based on denominations, Holiness (63%), Pentecostal (62%) and Baptist congregations (59%) are more likely to report at least a 4% growth in church attendance post-pandemic, compared with Methodist (43%) and Lutheran churches (37%).
“Clearly, the last two years of attendance growth was aided by people returning to regular attendance after being away since the start of the pandemic,” Scott McConnell, the executive director of Lifeway Research, said. “Most pastors wish they had returned earlier, but their attendance is a source of optimism, though future growth will need to come from brand new contacts.”
To read the full report, click here.
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Director of The Raceless Gospel Initiative, an associate editor, host of the Good Faith Media podcast, “The Raceless Gospel” and author of Take Me to the Water: The Raceless Gospel as Baptismal Pedagogy for a Desegregated Church.
