Did you know a record number of people across the United States have stopped going to church? For most of us, that has been witnessed with the closing of churches during COVID and then the reopening of these same churches. Many saw that not everyone returned. There are still churches today 4 years later that would say that their church has not returned to its pre-Covid attendance numbers.
In their book, The Great Dechurching, Jim Davis and Michael Graham researched and surveyed this phenomenon. Davis and Graham stated that “about 15% of American adults living today (around 14 million people) have effectively stopped going to church and most of this dechurching has been happening in the past 25 years.” (p.xxii.) For Davis and Graham, it wasn’t just COVID that caused this decrease in attendance. This falling away has been happening since 2000.
They further described this as the largest religious shift in years. The last shift went in the opposite direction. “From 1870-1895, church attendance more than doubled, from 13.5 million people to 32.7 million, as the general population grew from 38.6 million to 69.6 million.” (p.4) Truly, the church in America benefited from this spirit of revival that spread.
Today, though, as has already been stated, the church has declined in America. Davis and Graham cite that “in 2019, approximately 3,000 Protestant churches were started in the US, but 4,500 Protestant churches closed.” (p.11) That translates into a 1,500 net loss in churches. Another interesting statistic cited is that “churches under 100 people comprise 69% of all churches.” (p.12) On the other hand, “70% of those who attend church are in a congregation of 250 members or more.” (p.12) This would lead someone to believe that the churches that the majority of churches closing have congregations of 100 or less.
With all that information, one could certainly stop reading their book and conclude that there is little or no hope for the future of the church. Yet Davis and Graham do offer a significant amount of hope focused on the value of friendships. These men spent time drilling down on those they define as dechurched or individuals who were once going to church but, for whatever reason, they decided to stop going. Some quit because they got out of the habit due to COVID. For others, schedules got busier. Still, for others, kids start playing select ball on Sundays.
Whatever the reasons, though, Davis and Graham identified that building and rebuilding friendships are crucial to people returning. They cite the following statistics.
- 28% said they would come back if they made new friends.
- 18% said they would come back if they move and want to make new friends.
- 20% said they would come back if they became lonely and wanted to make new friends.
- 17% said they would come back if a friend invited them. (p.28)
The authors state it succinctly. “Add it all up and the takeaway is that many dechurched evangelicals simply need a friend to invite them to church.” (p.28)
Obviously, there are a lot of other surveys and ideas that are spoken of in the book. They even offer suggestions for being a friend and other helpful ideas on stemming the tide. I encourage you and your staff to take a look at this thought-provoking work. Dissect it and boil it down to what God would be leading your church to do to reach your area for Christ.
The Great Dechurching by Jim Davis and Michael Graham, Published by Zondervan in 2023.