Five things to know about declining church attendance

Here are five things to know about church attendance.

1. Church attendance averaged 34% in 2019 and was 30% last year, the Gallup Poll found.

2. The highest percentage of attendance since the polling data started in 1939 was 49% in 1955 and 1958, according to Gallup data.

3. “When I was growing up we knew that we had to be in church and a part of church,” said the Rev. Elmer S. Martin, pastor of Greater Allen AME Church in Dayton. “My children understand the importance of going to church because I taught them from the time they were able to understand. A lot of parents haven’t done that.”

4. The percentage of U.S. adults who say they belong to a church, synagogue or mosque is also declining, reaching 47% in 2020. It was around 70% until 2000, according to a 2021 Gallup Poll.

4. “What we see is a rise of the ‘nones,’ That is a major rise in the number who are unaffiliated with any religious group,” said Jeremy Kimble, associate professor of theology at Cedarville University.

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