Churches are among the many cultural institutions that have faced closures, restrictions, shifts to online worship and other chaotic changes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But a new survey offers some truly encouraging news: most people are planning to return to church after the pandemic — and some even want to increase the frequency of their typical attendance.
Lifeway Research has more:
A study of 1,000 Protestant churchgoers in the U.S. from Nashville-based Lifeway Research found, when COVID-19 is no longer an active threat to people’s health, 91% plan to attend in-person worship services at least as often as they did before the coronavirus pandemic. That includes almost a quarter (23%) who plan to attend more than they did previously.
Few regular churchgoers say they will attend less than before (6%), rarely attend (2%), or stop attending in-person services completely (1%).
These results are overwhelmingly positive, especially amid ongoing challenges that many churches have faced during the pandemic. One of those challenges is decreased attendance, even as more and more churches open up.
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While the emptied pews might have some pastors wondering if their houses of worship will recover, the data clearly points to the encouraging reality that most parishioners plan to return once the virus has dissipated.
People also expressed seeing a deep benefit to churchgoing, with 94 percent of those surveyed saying that they "greatly value" their ability to worship in person. Read more about the data here.
And that's not the only encouraging news, as Pure Flix Insider recently reported on some positive Bible stats as well.