Many years ago —related to your final comment about words—I would have described evangelicals’ behavior as going to church a lot and actively trying to talk other people into doing the same. So when surveyed the person would answer yes, meaning they are a Baptist, perhaps. But for attendance there is no “not as much as I should” choice, it’s either stretch the truth or articulate or even confess to a contradiction between your values and who you really are. “Are you indifferent to Jesus giving his life for you on the cross?” Is not the question asked, but is the question heard.
Now, if you are just being asked if your family is Republican, you would be much more comfortable being frank.
I think changes in actual attendance are a part, but also changes in self-reporting also play a part.
For Black Christians, we have a different feel for the word evangelical. We use the more general "born again". The Jude 3 Project has done excellent work on this as well. You might find their data and conversations interesting
I'm one of the pastors at a large church in Texas. We certainly see that the share of church people who attend weekly has gone down. For many who consider themselves to be at church frequently, they mean twice a month on campus and probably once online. It's not what we want, obviously, but it's what people are doing.
A bigger issue is why are people rejecting church attendance? A really good book that tries to address this issue is Megan Basham's book "Shepherds for Sale" and the compromised Gospel that repels biblically knowledgeable Christians. Also, the book "Why Men Hate Going to Church" is another good book describing why men reject church attendance. Covid revealed to many Christians that church services were a waste of time. As Barna's research reveals, no discipleship is occurring in most churches which have taken on a business approach to church agendas. Pat Robertson once stated the frustration he experienced visiting churches when he said the experience was about as much fun as getting a really bad leg cramp! We have lost our mission!
This is incredibly fascinating, but one question: These proportions are within the pool of self-identified evangelicals, right, not from the whole U.S. public? E.g. that 9% non-attending is 9% of self-identified evangelicals, not 9% of all of America, right? That's what it looks like in the first graph, where I see the 9% coming from that smaller pool, but then the subsequent ones say "share of the public," so I'm not sure if I'm reading something incorrectly.
SUPER interesting Ryan and not what I expected at all. I've noticed among my more progressive evangelical friends that they're more likely drop the evangelical label, even if their theology hasn't changed, because of the largely conservative cultural shape of mainstream evangelicals. Any stats or studies that might shed light on that?
It's generational: converts as adults tend to attend more than adults in the religion they grew up into.
People born in a family of a given religion, tend not to be so strong attendants when becoming adults.
You should look at annual data on new adult church members. Maybe you can find the statistical quantitative correlation of new adult members and stronger attendance.
Many years ago —related to your final comment about words—I would have described evangelicals’ behavior as going to church a lot and actively trying to talk other people into doing the same. So when surveyed the person would answer yes, meaning they are a Baptist, perhaps. But for attendance there is no “not as much as I should” choice, it’s either stretch the truth or articulate or even confess to a contradiction between your values and who you really are. “Are you indifferent to Jesus giving his life for you on the cross?” Is not the question asked, but is the question heard.
Now, if you are just being asked if your family is Republican, you would be much more comfortable being frank.
I think changes in actual attendance are a part, but also changes in self-reporting also play a part.
I think a "satisfaction with your own church attendance" question might have some interesting results.
For Black Christians, we have a different feel for the word evangelical. We use the more general "born again". The Jude 3 Project has done excellent work on this as well. You might find their data and conversations interesting
I'm one of the pastors at a large church in Texas. We certainly see that the share of church people who attend weekly has gone down. For many who consider themselves to be at church frequently, they mean twice a month on campus and probably once online. It's not what we want, obviously, but it's what people are doing.
A bigger issue is why are people rejecting church attendance? A really good book that tries to address this issue is Megan Basham's book "Shepherds for Sale" and the compromised Gospel that repels biblically knowledgeable Christians. Also, the book "Why Men Hate Going to Church" is another good book describing why men reject church attendance. Covid revealed to many Christians that church services were a waste of time. As Barna's research reveals, no discipleship is occurring in most churches which have taken on a business approach to church agendas. Pat Robertson once stated the frustration he experienced visiting churches when he said the experience was about as much fun as getting a really bad leg cramp! We have lost our mission!
This is incredibly fascinating, but one question: These proportions are within the pool of self-identified evangelicals, right, not from the whole U.S. public? E.g. that 9% non-attending is 9% of self-identified evangelicals, not 9% of all of America, right? That's what it looks like in the first graph, where I see the 9% coming from that smaller pool, but then the subsequent ones say "share of the public," so I'm not sure if I'm reading something incorrectly.
In 2023, of the entire sample - 9% of people said:
1. I self-identify as an evangelical.
2. My religious attendance is seldom or never.
So, about one in ten American adults are a non-attending evangelical.
SUPER interesting Ryan and not what I expected at all. I've noticed among my more progressive evangelical friends that they're more likely drop the evangelical label, even if their theology hasn't changed, because of the largely conservative cultural shape of mainstream evangelicals. Any stats or studies that might shed light on that?
https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/the-rise-of-the-non-christian-evangelical
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/26/opinion/evangelical-republican.html
Awesome! Thank you!
It's generational: converts as adults tend to attend more than adults in the religion they grew up into.
People born in a family of a given religion, tend not to be so strong attendants when becoming adults.
You should look at annual data on new adult church members. Maybe you can find the statistical quantitative correlation of new adult members and stronger attendance.