Polls Reveal Why Church Attendance Still Subpar Post Covid, Commonly Overlooked Demographic

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Though the CDC declared an end to the pandemic national emergency in 2023, the American church still hasn’t fully recovered in terms of attendance. Many polls have been conducted to explore this, with some even examining the “health” of the American church and concluding that things aren’t as bad as they expected before the research. There’s something that seems dissatisfying about “Well, things aren’t as bad as we thought.” That doesn’t provide a satisfying answer to the question of why people are still staying away.

General Reasons Revealed Regarding Modern-Day Attendance

Perhaps the most revealing answer as to why attendance still hasn’t fully recovered was reported in a Pew Research poll. Overall, about 43 percent of people find it more convenient to watch services online, though a small number (21 percent) say they have found other ways to pursue their spiritual interests.  

Among those who still attend at least once per month, Pew found that the top reason was that 61 percent wanted to become closer to God. Other primary reasons included 8 percent who wanted to be a better person, 6 percent who were looking for a community of faith, 5 percent seeking comfort in difficult circumstances, and 4 percent who believed that church attendance would help them raise moral children who would, in turn, become moral adults.

Regarding the average age of an adult who attends church at least monthly, Boomers and Gen X are nearly tied at 53 percent and 54 percent, respectively. Right behind these two groups are Millennials at 42 percent and Gen Z at 42 percent. Gen Z men are the least satisfied with the state of the church, according to State of the Bible.

Singles: a very Overlooked Group

One group that’s frequently overlooked but is seeing sharply declining church attendance is singles. A Gallup poll found that 45 percent of church attendees were single between 2016 and 2018. Prior to that, 64 percent were single and attending. 

Many singles want to engage and be in community but feel overlooked, excluded, or even invisible just because they don’t have a spouse. They need to be offered leadership roles and even a voice for their specific demographic in church decisions, as well as inclusion in a community of faith group. Most singles have a significant struggle with loneliness and isolation, especially since everything is so digitized these days.

Counting who’s in the pews and in the community in which the church is located can make a huge difference to churches that want to keep singles engaged, and church leadership is often surprised to find how high that number actually is, according to The Conversation.

Single Friendly Church suggests running an anonymous survey to determine who the church may not be reaching, or if there are needs within the congregation that aren’t being met among the singles demographic. Singles can include never married, widowed, divorced, separated, single parents, married but spouse is in a long-term senior care facility or married but single in the faith.   

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Elizabeth Delaney has been a freelance content writer for over 20 years and has enjoyed having her prose published in both the non-fiction and fiction markets. She has written various types of content, including Christian articles, healthy lifestyle, blog posts, business topics, news articles, product descriptions, and some fiction. She is also a singer-songwriter-musician. When she is not busy with writing or music, she enjoys spending time with friends or family and doing fun social activities such as hiking, swing dancing, concerts, and other activities.