One of the biggest areas of concern right now is the frequency of church attendance for families.
As I talk and interact with children’s ministry leaders across they country, they echo this. A few weeks ago, I met with over 20 children’s pastors who serve at some of the largest churches in the country. Frequency of church attendance was one of the main topics that was discussed.
Church Attendance for Families: How Often They Attend
Families that used to attend 3 out of 4 weeks now attend twice a month. Families that used to attend twice a month now attend once a month or even less.
A recent study by Barna, gives us valuable insight into families’ church attendance patterns and their attitude toward church in general. Barna identifies two groups.
The “practicing Christians” group numbers 63.5 million and are people who are the most committed to their faith. This group attends church a minimum of once a month and say their faith is very important to them.
This proclamation is challenging. When the most committed people are the ones who come at least once a month, we have a lot of work to do. This confirms our theories that families are attending less often for sure.
Church Attendance for Families: Who Attends More
And yet, there is a core group that attends almost every weekend. In my opinion, this is the group of people who are serving in weekly roles. And in many cases, they have developed deep relational connections with the people they serve with and have found their niche.’
The other category is what Barna calls the “churched adults.” This group numbers 124.4 million and attend church at least once in a six month period. This is the group that we affectionately call the “CEO’s.” Christmas and Easter only. Easter and Christmas are normally a high attendance times for most churches. On these weekends, everyone shows up at the same time, hence the higher attendance.
Another trend Barna highlights is church hopping. He says this has become the norm. 27% of practicing Christians church hop. I believe this is especially true in multi-site churches. Sometimes people will drive to hear the pastor speaking “live” and other weekends they will attend a campus that has the pastor on video. Or perhaps they are running late on a Sunday and decide to go to a closer campus rather than the one they usually attend.
