Some pastors are finding it harder to bring back their pre-pandemic churchgoers. While African American Protestant pastors are only slightly less likely than their white counterparts to say they met in person in August (95% to 98%), African American pastors are 12.5 times as likely as white pastors to say their attendance is less than 30% what it was before COVID-19 (25% to 2%).
Almost 3 in 4 pastors (73%) say their worship service attendance in August was fewer than 100 people, with 40% drawing fewer than 50 on an average weekend. More than 1 in 5 pastors (22%) report crowds of 100 to 249, while 6% say they reached 250 or more.
The small church, however, has had an advantage in the pandemic recovery period. Pastors of churches with pre-COVID-19 attendance levels of fewer than 50 people are more likely to report August 2021 attendance back to or exceeding their previous levels. Almost 1 in 4 small church pastors (23%) say they had 90% to 100% of their pre-pandemic attendance in August, while 1 in 5 (19%) report higher attendance compared to January 2020.
“Most small churches are still not back to pre-pandemic attendance, but far more of them are reaching this point than larger churches,” said McConnell. “It’s possible small churches are aided by perceived safety of a naturally smaller gathering, differences in technology options for gathering online, or the strength of relational connections. But regardless of the reasons why, in-person worship attendance trends currently look promising for small churches.”
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This article originally appeared here.
