Seth Udinski, FISM News
According to a recently released Lifeway Research poll, church attendance for Protestants in America is still down from its pre-pandemic numbers, even though the nation’s leaders have generally stopped enforcing pandemic lockdowns.
The poll highlights the radical change in church attendance during the difficult months of the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 and into 2021 and also highlights the mindset shift in some believers due to months of isolation and broken habits.
The good news from the poll is that 100% of the Protestant pastors who were polled answered that their church is back open with in-person worship services on Sunday. This is especially encouraging considering these numbers from the height of the lockdowns, in April of 2020, had plummeted to 10%. By summer of 2020 they were back up to roughly 75%, and in summer of 2021 they sat at 98%.
Despite this good news, church attendance still lags behind the church fully opening its doors. As of this past summer, only 85% of churchgoers have returned to in-person Sunday services when compared with pre-pandemic averages.
Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, described it this way:
While there are a handful of exceptions, we can definitively say that churches in the U.S. have reopened. While masks began to rapidly disappear in many settings in 2022, churchgoers have not reappeared quite as fast.
There are certainly multiple variables at play with this lag in church attendance. Some of it likely has to do with lingering fear, while some is also likely due to the widely-available live-stream option to in-person services.
Many churches, even those that are more traditional and would not have previously used a live-stream function, were forced to do so during the lockdowns as a way to minister to their congregants. As such, some members have chosen to stay home on Sunday mornings and tune in to church virtually instead of gathering physically with the body of believers.
Still, there is another shred of encouragement in an otherwise disappointing report. The percentage of church attendance is growing from its pandemic levels. The 85% statistic from August is up significantly from January 2021, where the numbers sat at only 60%.
Author’s Biblical Analysis
In this report, there is one obvious truth that rises to the surface for Christians – Do not forsake gathering together with your church body, so long as you are physically able to do so.
One of the most important (and, sadly, ignored) Christian doctrines is the command to fellowship with other believers. Many faithful believers have said, “There are no lone wolf Christians.” Indeed, the Word of God commands us to both be accountable to others and to hold one another accountable.
Consider the words of Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Our enemy the devil is cunning, and he targets our blind spots. So many well-meaning individuals, men and women who had a legitimate desire for righteousness, have fallen prey to the snares of the enemy because they had no one to watch their back.
Believer, you need other Christians in your life to lovingly correct errors and protect you from sin. Similarly, you need to perform this same act of love and grace for those believers whom the Lord has put in your life.
The question at the heart of this is as follows – How can we be accountable and keep our brothers and sisters accountable if we are not with them?
All believers – young, old, recently saved, and those who have been following Christ for decades – need to make it a priority to gather, physically, with other believers on the Lord’s Day to worship, fellowship together in Christ, and most importantly grow in sanctification under the preaching of God’s Word.
That being said, for some, it is not possible to gather in church. God’s grace is in that as well, and praise God for the technology that allows those who physically cannot attend church services to still, in a unique way, be present with the body.
But for those who can, physically gathering with other believers is both important for one’s spiritual health and is also an act of obedience to God.
The reality is, for many of us, the temptation to neglect the assembly is always there. Even a simple rainstorm, a late Saturday night, a snooze button on the alarm, or some other inconvenience is often enough to keep a Christian from going to church.
Believer, if this is true of you, know this – there is grace. But also know that the Lord has called you to “not forsake the gathering of the saints.” If you are one who has eased into substituting online services with being present at church, may you make it a renewed priority to gather with other believers for worship. It is vital to your spiritual health and growth as a Christian.
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. – Hebrews 10:24-25