The trend is practically universal: fewer people are attending church every year.
You might have even asked the question yourself. Why bother?
There are many reasons why church attendance is declining, but I think it’s increasingly evident that it no longer makes sense to attend church.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge fan of the church. But I get many of the reasons people stop going to church. Let me explain.
In the fall of 2015, I transitioned out of the lead pastor role at our church and into a Founding and Teaching Pastor role (Here’s a piece on why and how I did it). I still carry about 30 Sundays a year of teaching and work on some senior-level projects, but that leaves me much freer than I’ve ever been on a Sunday morning. Sure, sometimes I host the service or have other roles, but more often than I’ve ever experienced before, I’m free on a Sunday. Which means I’m often an attender. So I feel what the culture is feeling more than ever before.
And on those Sundays when I have no official role, I’m plagued with the question, “Why go to church?” Attending church is hard!
After all, our church streams our services live online. I could literally watch live on any device I own anywhere. Plus we share the services on demand, so I could watch or listen any time during the week via our website or catch the message for free via podcast.
If your church doesn’t have a great online experience, no worries; about a million others do. You can access almost any church you want, anywhere, anytime. Free.
Which brings us back to the question: Why attend church?
Increasingly, I’m convinced there’s no point to merely attending. You drive all the way in to connect with three or four songs, hear the message, and then head home. You could almost do all of that by yourself in a much more convenient way.
Slip on Spotify and grab the message via podcast or on demand, and boom, you’re covered.
4 Reasons People are No Longer Attending Church
1. People are Drowning In Options
I wonder if, in large measure, that’s why the era of attending church is declining. Think about it.
Generations ago, the church was a social and cultural hub as well as a missional hub. In addition to faith reasons, people loved going to church because it was one of a handful of options available in a community as well as the main way (other than personal devotions) you connect with God.
We now live in a culture that’s drowning in options and has 24/7 access to anything Christian.
2. America is Becoming Decidedly Less Christian
America is rapidly becoming post-Christian. COVID accelerated so many trends, and this is likely one of them.
A massive Pew Research study projects a few scenarios that suggest that by 2070, people professing ‘no religion’ (the Nones) will outnumber Christians.
The drop in Americans identifying as Christians is as surprising as it is sharp. In the early 1990s, over 90% of US adults identified as Christians. Today, only 63% do. The number professing no religion has spiked from 6% to 29%. The Nones, Pew surmises, will likely be the majority within 50 years. The drop in Americans identifying as Christians is as surprising as it is sharp. In the early 1990s, over 90% of US adults identified as Christians. Today, only 63% do. The number professing no religion has spiked from 6% to 29%. The…Share on X
Stoking this trend is the fact that while, historically, it’s usually people aged 15-29 who dissociate from the religion of their upbringing, there’s a recent spike in adults aged 30-60 who are deconverting from Christianity.
What does all of this mean for church leaders? Simple: The drift away from faith is in the water supply. No longer just an “I went to college and lost my faith” kind of phenomenon, the drift out of church and Christianity is widespread and impacting almost everyone.
This, of course, is not fatal, but it is real.
If your church grew largely because the culture was Christian, it’s now declining largely because the culture is less Christian.
If you want to reach more people in the future, it will require a dramatic reinvention to reach a post-Christian culture and a generation that’s no longer wired to accept what you say at face value.
Churches pining for a return to Christian America or trying to gerrymander its return will continue to see people drift away.
Church leaders who reinvent and prepare to minister to a post-Christian culture stand to see themselves grow again with conversion growth.
3. You’ve Shut Down or Throttled Back Your Digital Presence
A strange trend is happening right now among many churches—they’re throttling back or suspending their online services and digital presence.
The thinking? If we don’t offer the service online, people will come back to the building.
I’ll be upfront: That line of thinking could hardly be more backward or counter-productive in the long term.
Not broadcasting your service online, hoping you’ll fill the room, is not only scarcity thinking at its worst, but it’s also a downright stupid long-term strategy.Not broadcasting your service online hoping you’ll fill the room is not only scarcity thinking at its worst, it’s also a downright stupid long-term strategy.Share on X
I realize that’s strong language but think it through.
Pretending the internet doesn’t exist doesn’t stop the internet from existing. We’ve lived in a digital world for decades, and ignoring that makes you like the mall that insists online shopping is going away and one day, everything will be like it was in the 1970s again.
Good luck with that.
Even if you remove digital options, about a million other churches and organizations haven’t. People won’t be drawn back to your church nearly as much as they’ll simply move on to other churches or organizations operating as though we’re several decades into the 21st century (because we are).
When you drive everything to a building so you can fill the building, you miss the greatest opportunity you have to reach and disciple people.
In the short term, you might get a few people back in the building. Why? Honestly, it’s probably so the lead pastor can feel good about having a fuller room.
But full rooms do not guarantee a fulfilled mission.
And that’s what’s suffering when you cut back your digital presence—the mission.
4. What You Offer Digitally Is the Same As What You Offer In-Person
Congregations that remain online are making a wise choice.
The challenge in the future is to diversify what you offer online and distinguish it from what you offer in person. Not only will that create true options, but it will deepen engagement as your in-person and online ministries lean toward what each does best.
After a brief period of innovation with what kinds of online ministry churches offered when COVID first hit, most churches toggled back to simply streaming their weekend services and using social media to either share last week’s service or advertise their next service.
Live-streaming your weekend service taps about 1% of the potential that online ministry has.
Online ministry opens up new ways to deliver content and build community. Churches that move beyond only streaming services will see quicker and deeper growth than those that don’t.
Want creative ideas? Simply scroll through your feed.
Almost no one other than churches is simply streaming an event. Social media and social ministry can be so much more creative than that, but a lot of church leaders think the stream is enough.
So, this brings us to the next question: Why should people attend church today?
In fact, I can think of only two compelling reasons to go to church anymore.
2 Compelling Reasons for People to Attend Church
1. You Don’t Attend Church. You Are the Church.
The main reason I gather with the church is because I am the church.
You don’t attend church. You are the church.
Merely attending church doesn’t make you much of a church because sitting in a back row consuming church doesn’t make you very good at being the church.
I think being the church has something to do with living your life for Christ, demonstrating God’s love by serving others and sharing your faith with people. That’s very different than consuming church in a back row, which you can just as easily do on your back deck.
The reason you would go to church today is that you’ve moved from being a consumer to being a contributor. You don’t just go to be served, you go to serve. There’s something deeply scriptural about that.The reason you would go to church today is that you’ve moved from being a consumer to being a contributor. You don’t just go to be served, you go to serve.Share on X
And before you think that you can do whatever you need to do as a Christian in the world without other Christians or without the church, here are a couple of reasons I would disagree.
First, gathering together was Jesus’ idea, not ours. I outline a response to Christians who are done with church here.
Second, listen to what this young mom had to say about her experience when she started skipping church because of the demands of parenting. Fascinating.
You are the church. Remember that. And the church is at it’s best when we engage in the mission God has given us.You don’t attend church. You are the church.Share on X
2. An Experience For the Sake of Those Not Yet in The Room
The second compelling reason to attend a Sunday morning gathering is that you’re bringing a friend with you or because you yourself are exploring Christianity.
I love being part of a church that is constantly designing experiences with those who are not yet in the room in mind.
One of the most exciting things about many growing churches today is they’ve become great at hosting experiences that unchurched people can access and ultimately love to attend. That’s what our church does well, and I love both bringing friends into it for the first time and being there to connect with other people that bring their friends.
Spiritual maturity, after all, isn’t about how much you know. It’s about how much you love. And love that doesn’t flow out into the lives of other people isn’t love.Spiritual maturity isn’t about how much you know. It’s about how much you love.Share on X
There’s A Dividing Line
So that’s it. Two good reasons to keep attending church.
First, you are the church, which means you’re engaged in the mission in some meaningful way.
And second, you’re creating space where everybody (regardless of their background) can hear and experience the news of Christ’s love for them.
But that also means we live in an age where attending church for attendance’s sake is dying. Fast.
And maybe that’s what we see happening around us. People who aren’t engaged in the mission are leaving the mission. It could explain why people are leaving the church.
And while that’s sad, you can’t build the future of the church on passionless, disengaged people. Nor can you build it on consumers.
The future will be built on Christians who want to serve, share and engage the mission of the local church.You can’t build the future of the church on passionless, disengaged people.Share on X
So… What Do You Do About It?
1. Stop Pandering to the Consumers
Well first, stop pandering to the consumers—those who merely attend and won’t engage. Too many leaders spend their time trying to please people who complain much and contribute little.
They have enough options. And you will never be able to please everyone. So stop trying.
As my friend Reggie Joiner says, focus on who you want to reach, not who you want to keep.Too many leaders try to please people who complain much and contribute little.Share on X
2. Raise the Level of Engagement
Second, focus on engaging people in the mission of the church. Nothing is more exciting. Nothing will change the world more powerfully than the love of Christ shared with a world that so desperately needs it.
Here are 5 reasons engagement is the new church attendance.
And if you want to raise engagement, here are 7 ways to get people more engaged in the mission of your church, so they make the move from merely attending church to being the church.
3. Keep Unchurched People Front and Center
Third, make sure your church is optimally positioned to accomplish its mission: reaching unchurched people with the love and hope of Christ.
That means everything you do needs to work in a way unchurched people can access. The best churches assume that every Sunday is someone’s first Sunday. We even have that saying mounted on a giant logo on the wall.
One good way to check whether your church is ready to reach the unchurched is to see if teenagers love your church services. Not your alternative service. Your main-open-the-doors-wide service.
If teenagers hate your church service, so will unchurched people.
Not sure if your church is truly positioned to reach unchurched people? These 9 signs will tell you.If teenagers hate your church service, so will unchurched people. Share on X
Final Thoughts
Maybe it’s not a bad thing in the end that the era of attending church is dying.
Please hear me, we need more churches. We need more, healthy churches. And we need churches that are doing a fantastic job at reaching people.
What we don’t need more of is churches where people merely attend and never engage.
