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.
