Starr Munro
news@greenepublishing.com
A Gallop Poll released on Monday, March 29, listed church members as being in minority figures for the first time in eight decades. The analysis examined the decline in church membership over the span of 20 years and recorded that membership is down more than 20 points since the turn of the century. According to the poll, a mere 47 percent of the population identifies as being part of a certain congregation, whereas in 1999, the numbers were at 70 percent.
The decline was analyzed over three year aggregates and the data collected comes from 6,000 adult American citizens. The years 1998 to 2000 showed a 69 percent average attendance, while the years 2008 to 2010 demonstrated a 62 percent attendance and the 2018-2020 poll resulted in only 49 percent attendance. For the past two decades, Americans with no religious preference have grown from eight percent in 1998-2000, to 13 percent in 2008-2010 and then to 21 percent in the past three years. The population change is a huge factor in the poll, considering each passing year, younger generations make up a larger part of the U.S. population.
The younger generations make up the highest rates of people with no religious preference, with 31 percent of Millennials and 33 percent of Generation Z having the lowest rates in church attendance. This information can be used in a positive way, and religious leaders are discussing how the means of communicating the Gospel may need to change. Generation Z and Millennials are less inclined to be loyal to one church or one congregation and will visit multiple churches. Sixty-six percent of traditionalists are part of a regular congregation and 58 percent of baby boomers are steady attendees at a certain church.
Population change is not the main factor in church attendance, however, since adults in the older generations have displayed great decreases in their own congregation attendance versus numbers shown two decades ago. The eastern region suffered the greatest decline (25 points) since the year 2000, and the Southern region of the country, known as the Bible Belt, suffered the lowest decline, with a 16-point drop in membership since 2000. The two main trends leading the decline in church membership, more adults with no religious preference and falling rates of church membership among people who do have a religion, are apparent in each of the generations over time.
The U.S. remains a religious nation, with more than seven in 10 affiliating with some type of organized religion. However, far fewer, now less than half, have a formal membership with a specific house of worship. Gallup, the analyzing group behind the poll, has this to say about the results: "While it is possible that part of the decline seen in 2020 was temporary and related to the coronavirus pandemic, continued decline in future decades seems inevitable, given the much lower levels of religiosity and church membership among younger versus older generations of adults. Because it is unlikely that people who do not have a religious preference will become church members, the challenge for church leaders is to encourage those who do affiliate with a specific faith to become formal and active church members."