Millennials and Church Attendance

A study released this week showed that Millennials (those 30 and under) stand out as least likely to value church attendance; only two in 10 believe it is important. And more than one-third of Millennial young adults (35%) take an anti-church stance.

The study overall found that although church involvement was once a cornerstone of American life, U.S. adults today are evenly divided on the importance of attending church. Half (49 percent) say it is “somewhat” or “very” important and the other 51 percent say it is “not too” or “not at all” important.

According to Barna Group’s 2014 tracking data, overall church attendance has dipped from 43% in 2004 to 36% today. But beyond a dip in attendance numbers, the nature of churchgoing is changing:

Regular attenders used to be people who went to church three or more weekends each month—or even several times a week. Now people who show up once every four to six weeks consider themselves regular churchgoers. Many pastors and church leaders are accounting for sporadic attendance in their ministry planning.

Furthermore, the percentage of people who have not attended a church function at all in the past six months has surged in the last decade from one-third to nearly two-fifths of all Americans. The shift is even more drastic among younger Americans: more than half of Millennials and Gen Xers say they have not been to church in the last six months.

Perhaps the most significant finding is that while the debate rages about what will happen to Millennials as they get older—Will they return to church attendance later in life?—they are starting at a lower baseline for church participation and commitment than previous generations of young adults.

Millennials who are opting out of church cite three factors for their decision: 35% cite the church’s irrelevance, hypocrisy, and the moral failures of its leaders as reasons to check out of church altogether. In addition, two out of 10 unchurched Millennials say they feel God is missing in church, and one out of 10 senses that legitimate doubt is prohibited, starting at the front door.

Adults who believe church is very important cite two reasons above the rest: to be closer to God (44%) and to learn about God (27%). One in five (22%) say they go to church because the Bible teaches fellowship with other believers. And in spite of a growing epidemic of loneliness, just one in 10 report going to church because they are looking for community.

The majority of people (61%) say they did not gain any significant or new insights regarding faith when they last attended.

The report asks: What does a truly compelling church community look like in the post-Christian era?

In FRAMES: Sacred Roots, Jon Tyson wrestles with what the data shows about the American church today, and revisits the early church to catch a vision of what it should—and can—be.

He writes:

In contrast to the early church, we live in one of the most well-resourced Christian cultures in history. Think about the ease, access and cultural privilege with which we American Christians find ourselves today. We can get any number of Bible translations at a Walmart or Dollar Store. Podcasts are readily available from the most gifted and popular Bible teachers. We can watch video sermons, listen to live worship albums and read in-depth studies in Greek and Hebrew. Many of us have entire collections of Bible software on our phones. We have Bible conferences, church growth conferences, denominational conferences, leadership conferences, missional conferences, church planting conferences and even conferences for pastors and people who don’t like church. We have Christian TV, Christian radio, short-term mission trips and presidents who are interviewed about their personal relationships with Jesus Christ.

How could the early church capture the imagination of the Roman empire while we, with all our resources and rigor, are slowly losing influence in our culture?

The early church leaders didn’t have the things we now consider essential for our faith. They didn’t have official church buildings, vision statements or core values. They had no social media, radio broadcasts or celebrity pastors. They didn’t even have the completed New Testament. Christ-followers were often deeply misunderstood, persecuted and some gave their lives for their faith. Yet they loved and they served and they prayed and they blessed—and slowly, over hundreds of years, they brought the empire to its knees. They did it through love.

Read more in Sacred Roots: Why the Church Still Matters

The Barna Study can be found by clicking here: Americans Divided on the Importance of Church.