Snippet: 25% of Evangelical Protestants May Not Ever Return to In-Person Services

Snip·pet | ˈsnipit | noun a small piece or brief extract.

Here’s one from a recent article in Christianity Today on the return to in-person church attendance by pre-Covid regular attenders (i.e., those that attended at least once per month):

“Churchgoing evangelical Protestants have returned at the highest rates, but their figures are also holding steady rather than growing: 75 percent attended in March and 72 percent the September before.”

One researcher feels most that haven’t returned will not be returning, ever.

I wonder how many of that group have continuing health concerns or are dealing with pretty sever social anxiety coming out of Covid. Maybe many or most of those will return.

Anecdotally, from my experience and conversations with others, many of those who have not returned are very active socially in other settings. I’ve suggested before that maybe their personal engagement with their congregations really hasn’t changed much since showing up disengaged (pre-Covid) is really not much different than watching online.

As has been said many times, maybe Covid and the social disruptions surrounding Covid “exposed” what was under the surface or true all along.

But it’s important to remember that while a trend may be true as a trend, it doesn’t actually tell every individual’s story (or maybe any individual’s story).

A couple of quick things: The situation is worse in mainline churches where fully 1/3 haven’t returned. And the biggest hit has been in predominantly black churches where 50% have not returned. That second stat line is very concerning and disturbing.

You can read the entire article here.

Photo by Ali Karimiboroujeni on Unsplash