Church Attendance Linked to Biblical Beliefs Decline

The less frequently people attend church, the more likely they are to embrace unbiblical beliefs, a new Lifeway Research study finds.

Lifeway surveyed 3,000 U.S. Protestant churchgoers, both frequent and infrequent attendees, asking if they agreed with a series of statements that either aligned with or contradicted Christian teachings. Infrequent churchgoers were defined as those who attend services once or twice a month, while frequent churchgoers were defined as those who attend services on a weekly basis.

Six in 10 frequent churchgoers said they strongly disagreed with the claim “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God,” compared to just 37 percent of infrequent attenders. Eighty-five percent of frequent churchgoers said the “biblical accounts of the physical (bodily) resurrection of Jesus are completely accurate” and the “event actually occurred,” while only 64 percent of infrequent attenders said the same.

“This relationship between lack of attendance and theological positions should sound an alarm among church leaders and dedicated Christians,” Lifeway statistician Daniel Price said. “Increasing attendance alone will not guarantee an improvement in the acceptance of theological positions.”

In other findings:

• Eighty-four percent of frequent churchgoers agreed that “God created marriage as a union between one man and one woman,” while only 68 percent of infrequent attendees felt the same.
• Similarly, seven in 10 frequent churchgoers strongly agreed with the sentiment that sex outside of traditional marriage is sinful. Forty-two percent of infrequent churchgoers said the same.
• Seventy-one percent of frequent church attendees strongly disagreed that “people should be able to choose their gender regardless of their biological sex,” while 51 percent of infrequent churchgoers disagreed.

“Worship services typically include proclamation of the word of God and uniting in songs and readings drawn from the word of God,” Price said. “So one way to encourage attendance is explaining the Bible’s importance and encouraging its prioritization.”

–Ala Goforth