This article is adapted from a Twitter thread from Josh Wood (@J_K_Wood)on X: reprinted and reformatted with permission
A recent survey is revealing that the amount of pro-life Christians is plummeting, yet not is all as it appears:
The survey didn’t find Christians going pro-choice; it found spectators in church pews. We’ve been measuring attendance when we should have been counting disciples.
Last year, a study found that the percentage of regular churchgoers identifying as pro-life plummeted from 63 percent (in 2023) to 43 percent (in 2025).
— The Gospel Coalition (@TGC) March 12, 2026
But wait, it gets worse. pic.twitter.com/1Ji03K0Hob
The numbers tell the whole story. First, who was surveyed?
Adults attending a church at least once a month. Online counts. No doctrinal filter.
This an update to a similar study done in 2023 repeated now in 2025.
15% of respondents were non-Christian.
(Up 1% from ‘23)
Between those two snapshots what people in those pews believe about God, salvation, and Scripture changed significantly.
Now watch what happened downstream when it did…
Theological erosion 2023 → 2025:
Orthodox view of God: 68% → 61%
Salvation through Christ: 47% → 36%
Human condition as sinful: 41% → 31%
Purpose is serving God: 53% → 37%
Success as obedience: 39% → 25%
Pro-life identification: 63% → 43%
Bible clear on abortion: 65% → 51% Bible clear on marriage: 75% → 65% Clear on homosexuality: 63% → 47%
Social scores followed almost point for point.
That is not a coincidence.
Here’s what the data is actually showing.
When you don’t believe the Bible is authoritative culture fills the vacuum, culture will always push you toward unbiblical social positions.
Every time. Without exception.
The survey proves the reverse is equally true.
Of the most engaged respondents:
– Most actively engaged in church
– Serving in church
– Most conservative politically
100% said the Bible informs their social positions.
Among the least engaged in church?
Just 38%
Same survey. Same questions.
One variable.
How seriously they took their faith.
Is this a discipleship crisis? Or did this survey capture an unusually nominal slice of churchgoers?
Maybe both.
Either way the pattern is clear:
Theology erodes. Social positions follow. Theology holds. Social positions hold.
Every. Single. Time.
Right thinking, right action.
The gospel isn’t producing bad fruit.
People who won’t engage with it are just being discipled by everything else.
Maybe it’s time we stopped measuring church health by how many seats we fill and started measuring it by how faithfully the people in those seats are living out God’s truth.
Attendance was never the goal. Disciples are.
7 responses to “Everyone is Reading ‘That Abortion Poll’ Wrong, Even TGC”
What’s happening is exactly what the Bible says would happen. A falling away. Church attendance isn’t indicative of much of anything at all. The delineation is between those who are truly born again, and those who are not. That’s the one and only measure and metric that is relevant.
That local “pastor” of ours, who encouraged the wealthy prominent member to continue his severe sins against us, when he got angry and defiant said that I hadn’t “darkened the doors” of the church in a long time. I said, “what church? I don’t see a church”. I’m not interested in attending a den of thieves, pack of wolves, brood of vipers, meeting with a bunch of servants of satan. It’s not a church, it’s a coven. And of all those supposedly good people around here, none spoke up. None. Zilch. What they say in response to a survey doesn’t mean much of diddly squat.
Granted I may be a bit bruised and biased, but as far as I’m concerned, about all church attendance is good for these days is knowing who’s the pharisee. You’ll find a lot more truly born again Christians outside the doors than inside.
When the defense for encouraging a member to continue serious sins of fraud, theft, coercion, enslavement, is that I haven’t “darkened the doors” of the church in a good while, that by itself proves that it’s not a church. Since when is it acceptable to commit such sins against someone just because they don’t regularly attend? Meanwhile, I did a lot of work for that church. So much so that for a long time I had a key to the building. I not only walked through those doors, I walked through them to WORK.
Right, you encourage a prominent member who, as it stands, is continuing in his sinful fraud and theft of $194,000 from my mother and I, then falsely accused me, and the excuse for that is that I haven’t attended in a good while. It’s disgusting beyond words. That’s not a church. It’s a cult. And what did the SBC do about it? Not a darned thing.
Right now, I don’t particularly want to hear a word about church attendance. As far as I’m concerned, it’s entirely irrelevant.
Ironically, one of the things I did for that church was to fix the front doors. Double white oak doors that were falling apart, full of water and tannin stains. I repaired the doors, affixing the rails and styles back together solidly, sanded them down to bare wood, refinished them, and they looked like brand new. And if memory serves, didn’t charge but about $150 and had to make about five trips, pretty much did it at cost.
I not only walked through those doors, I rebuilt those doors.
Now I regret ever lifting a finger to do anything for that coven of witches.
Great insight. Really appreciate you sharing the key distinction (even if it’s not a surprise).
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