Survey: Young Adult Church Attendance Post-Pandemic Drops 30%
The last three years of pandemic and post-pandemic life has given us the unforeseen blessing of sifting the wheat from the chaff, with the American Enterprise Institute’s (AEI) Survey Center on American Life reporting that 30% of young adults between the ages of 18-29 have either stopped attending church altogether or who are attending much less frequently. Study authors Lindsay Witt-Swanson, Jennifer Benz, and Daniel Cox explain:
“The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted much of American society, including religious worship…rather than completely upending established patterns, the pandemic accelerated ongoing trends in religious change. Young people, those who are single, and self-identified liberals ceased attending religious services at all at much higher rates than other Americans did…
At least in terms of religious attendance, the pandemic appears to have pushed out those who had maintained the weakest commitments to regular attendance.”
AEI observed a overall drop in church attendance across all demographics of 7%. White evangelicals are the most likely to attend church services frequently. Black protestant church members attended far less often, with only 49% saying they attend regularly or occasionally, and white mainline churches even less than that. The latter certainly makes sense, as the vast majority of mainline protestants are lost souls who hate Jesus, demonstrated by their commitment to attending churches with overwhelming heterodox and heretical beliefs and practices.
They also report:
The increase in Americans who report never attending religious services was largely driven by those who had sporadic attendance patterns before the pandemic. Nearly all Americans who have shifted to no longer attending religious services at all were those who infrequently attended before the pandemic.
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How sad you consider this a blessing. Isn’t it better for them to be in church, under the Word, under the anointing?
Trevor,
It is certainly true that God is shaking things up. He is, after all, the sovereign King and Lord of creation. It’s His prerogative.
I think what happens is some people see this as a blessing, because it is God’s will being done. Others tend to see the tragic side of it – lost lives, people falling away.
We can be thankful and rejoice that God’s work continues unabated, whilst we can also lament over the lost. We need to separate the two things, and it becomes clear.
Like you, I see no reason to rejoice over the loss of souls, and I would hope that is not what Protestia is saying.