In this article, we’ll examine five trends that are essential in understanding the Church’s place in the U.S. today.
1. Nearly two in five churchgoers report regularly attending multiple churches.
Declining church loyalty—or what is sometimes referred to as “church hopping”—is becoming a common feature of churchgoing. Just because somebody might attend church doesn’t mean they attend the same church every time. While a majority of churchgoers tends to stick with a single congregation (63% churched adults, 72% practicing Christians), a sizable minority is at least occasionally attending other churches, including nearly two in five churched adults (38%) and one-quarter of practicing Christians (27%).
Interestingly, church hoppers are just as likely as more loyal attenders to report weekly attendance. In other words, just because they select from a handful of different churches to attend doesn’t make them any less likely to actually attend church on any given weekend.
Also, those who “hop around” don’t do so as a routine part of their churchgoing in a given month, but typically attend another church occasionally….
Of those who attend church at least every six months, a little over half (54%) report being an official member at their place of worship. https://t.co/QZmWmRpWNF
— Barna Group (@BarnaGroup) February 24, 2020