The Covid-19 pandemic seriously disrupted traditional church attendance and other related gatherings such as weddings and funerals. Virtual worship became a new thing for countless churches in 2020 because of the pandemic. Two and a half years later, some local churches remain in predominantly virtual worship mode.
The new norm for local churches is to provide both in church worship and virtual worship. At least two reasons account this new trend. One, many churchgoers are still not comfortable attending large gatherings due to the threat of Covid-19. Two, some churchgoers have grown fond of virtual worship. It provides a less hectic and more comfortable way to stay connected with their local church.
Of particular interest to church leaders should be the impact of the pandemic on the church attendance of younger generations. The Barna Research Group conducted an online survey in January 2022, to track shifts in millennial church attendance during and after the pandemic.
Millennials, or Generation Y’s, were born between 1980 and 1995. That makes them between 27 and 42 years old at the writing of this post. They currently make up the majority of the adult population and workforce.
Church leaders should find the aggregate data from the study beneficial in helping them assess current church attendance patterns across generations.
The Increase of Millennial Church Attendance
According to the data, since 2019, the percentage of Millennials reporting weekly church attendance has increased from 21 percent to 39 percent. I don’t believe this is what most of us would have expected with regard to Millennial church attendance. That’s because most denominations were experiencing a decline in church attendance before the pandemic. Furthermore, Millennials are not regarded as your greatest fans of religions.
It is believed that online worship during the pandemic contributed to the increase in attendance. According to the report, “Despite all of the disruptions of 2020, the opportunity of online worship actually helped to boost attendance across all generations.” After the novelty of virtual worship wore off, church attendance declined significantly in 2021. Now, in 2022, younger generations are re-engaging the church, according to the data.
Trends by Race, Ethnicity
According to Barna’s data, the increase of Millennial church attendance between 2019 and 2022 can be largely attributed to non-white Millennials.
In 2019, a breakdown of church attendance by race showed that one-quarter of white adults (26%) and three in 10 nonwhite adults (31%) were attending church weekly. Following fluctuations due to the surge of COVID-19, 2022 numbers have steadied and shifted upward to 30 percent of white adults and 40 percent of non-white adults.
Among Millennials specifically, no statistically significant difference existed between white and non-white attendance in 2019. However, as of 2022, 45 percent of non-white Millennials are attending church weekly, compared to 35 percent of white Millennials.
According to Daniel Copeland, Associate Vice President of Research, “We looked at Millennials from various segmentations—including marital status, current employment, whether or not they have children in the home, etc.—and found that the most clear explanation for this shift sat with non-white Millennials.”
Church Attendance Today
According to Barna’s data, today about one in five (20%) of churchgoers still attend online, one in four (26%) mix online and in-person worship, and about half of churched adults attend in-person exclusively. Millennial churched adults are most likely to embrace a combination of online and in-person worship. One in three of them attends a combination of online and in-person worship, according to the study.
Copyright ©2022 by Frank King. All rights reserved.