Declining church attendance comes up in a surprising number of conversations – and no one’s quite sure how to respond to it.
The issue? Even committed church attendees are attending church less often.
Sure, the trend has been happening for years (gone are the days when people attended 50 out of 52 Sundays), but the issue has reached a tipping point in the church over the last decade.
Even monthly church attendance is declining.
One recent survey found a decline from 34% to 28% over two years, of people attending one to two times per month. Reasons behind church attendance decline are varied and multi-layered, but a few main culprits include shifting cultural values, busier schedules, and scandal-plagued institutions.
I first wrote about this in a post called 7 Ways to Respond as People Attend Church Less Often. But the conversation persists and, to many leaders, feels much more urgent.
Keep reading this article on CareyNieuwhof.com.