About 4,500 Protestant churches closed in 2019, the last year data is available, with about 3,000 new churches opening, according to Lifeway Research. It was the first time the number of churches in the US hadn\u2019t grown since the evangelical firm started studying the topic. With the pandemic speeding up a broader trend of Americans turning away from Christianity, researchers say the closures will only have accelerated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe closures, even for a temporary period of time, impacted a lot of churches. People breaking that habit of attending church means a lot of churches had to work hard to get people back to attending again,\u201d said Scott McConnell, executive director at Lifeway Research.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the last three years, all signs are pointing to a continued pace of closures probably similar to 2019 or possibly higher, as there\u2019s been a really rapid rise in American individuals who say they\u2019re not religious.\u201d<\/p>\n
Protestant pastors reported that typical church attendance is only 85% of pre-pandemic levels, McConnell said, while research by the Survey Center on American Life and the University of Chicago found that in spring 2022 67% of Americans reported attending church at least once a year, compared with 75% before the pandemic.<\/p>\n
But while Covid-19 may have accelerated the decline, there is a broader, long-running trend of people moving away from religion. In 2017 Lifeway surveyed young adults aged between 18 and 22 who had attended church regularly, for at least a year during high school. The firm found that seven out of 10 had stopped attending church regularly.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n Losing their religion: why US churches are on the decline https:\/\/t.co\/D4ex0ilSIy<\/a><\/p>\n — The Guardian (@guardian) January 22, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n