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Roughly half of Protestant churches in the U.S. have experienced a growth in their congregation and attendance since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study from Lifeway Research. The study found 52% of Protestant churches have increased their worship attendance in the last two years by at least 4%. The remaining 48% of churches have either maintained their congregation (within 4%) since 2022 (33%) or declined by at least 4% (15%).
“Clearly, the last two years of attendance growth was aided by people returning to regular attendance after being away since the start of the pandemic,” Lifeway Research executive director Scott McConnell said in a statement. “Most pastors wish they had returned earlier, but their attendance is a source of optimism, though future growth will need to come from brand new contacts.”
The Big Get Bigger
Larger congregations were found to increase in size, while the smaller ones kept getting smaller over the course of the last two or so years. Those with more than 250 members, or with 100 to 250 members, were more likely to increase in size than those with fewer than 100. Oddly, those churches with fewer than 50 people saw their congregation grow on average by 4% or more.
Amazingly, half of Protestant churches have seen at least 10 new members commit or indicate their commitment to Christ in the last 12 months alone. Just 6% of churches saw no new commitments. “While studies find most churches falling short of pre-pandemic numbers, this study finds a small uptick in conversions per attendee,” McConnell added. “Many churches are being intentional about sharing the gospel with the next generation and those outside their churches.”
Pew Finds Similar Results
A Pew Research study published in February 2025 found that, after many years of decline, the number of “Americans who identify as Christians shows signs of leveling off.” When the study started in 2007, the number of U.S. adults who identified as Christian sat around 78%. This number steadily dropped to 71% in 2014, then bombed down to between 60% and 64% from 2019 and 2024.
The number now sits at 62%, right in the middle of the most recent range. Again, the number of Christians who say they pray daily has dropped precipitously since 2007. Right now, roughly 44% of Americans say they participate in prayer daily.
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