The COVID pandemic facilitated a greater sorting of churchgoers into more ideological groups than before, according to new nationwide data from Hartford Institute for Religion Research.
This is one of several key findings from the National Survey of Church Attenders in Post-Pandemic United States, which was released this morning.
This study engaged 24,000 church attenders from more than 80 denominations between September 2024 and January 2025. The study differs significantly from most other research on post-pandemic churches because it focuses on behaviors and attitudes of churchgoers, not clergy.
“These survey results provide a unique perspective from those in the pews and highlights many very interesting changing patterns of worship and church engagement,” said Scott Thumma, professor of sociology of religion at Hartford International University and co-director of Hartford Institute for Religion Research.
The new study found 38% of respondents began attending their current church within the past five years, meaning since the start of the pandemic. Previous research showed an anticipated 25% of churchgoers changing churches over a five-year period. Thus, since the pandemic, church-changing has jumped 13 points.
“The fact that 38% of attenders joined their congregation in the past five years suggests a higher-than-average rate of new people joining congregations — whether through switching, returning or conversion,” the report explains. “Considerable discussion took place early in the pandemic about attenders moving to churches that better fit them: either those that remained open (or closed) or which were more congruent to their religious, political or health convictions.”
Hartford Institute reported in 2023 that the level of serious conflict in churches also has fallen in the past five years: “In other words, ideological sorting through switching congregations in recent years may have reduced the level of significant tension within churches. When participants in our survey were asked about their previous connection to organized religion, over two-thirds of new attenders (69%) reported switching churches — indicating that they had participated in a different congregation before coming to their current one.”
While church-switching is not uncommon, the increased level of church-switching is.
Among those who are new attenders at their congregations, slightly more than 22% report not having attended a congregation for years before and slightly more than 8% said they never participated in a congregation before.
“This combined 31% of new attendees represent former religious ‘nones’ or congregational converts who are embracing organized religion for the very first time in their lives or returners who have been ‘re-churched’ after a lapse in participation,” the summary says.
One note on methodology is that the Hartford survey participants skew toward larger churches rather than smaller churches. Thus, the answers are more likely to reflect the experiences of those attending larger churches — which is the reality for the majority of American churchgoers. While the majority of churches in the U.S. are small, the majority of people in the U.S. who attend church attend large congregations.
Considering specifically those who are new attenders to their current congregations, 63% said what drew them to their current church is that the congregation aligns with their beliefs, values and preferences.
“This explanation was more important for people who arrived at the congregation three to five years ago compared to those who came more recently,” the report notes. “This may additionally offer further evidence for the congregation switching and ideological sorting that occurred early in the pandemic.”
The least important factor for new attenders is programming and the ability to participate online (15% each).
Regarding online worship, the survey found 75% of congregations still provide online access, down a bit from the pandemic years but significantly higher than the 45% of churches online before the pandemic.
“As prevalent as virtual worship is, most religious leaders do not have a grasp of what is happening on the other side of the screen,” the summary explains. “They do not have an accurate count of how many people are watching or what these participants are doing while they watch the service. Furthermore, they do not know if virtual attenders enjoy the online worship experience nor why they chose to worship online.”
But this survey helps answer some of those questions.
“Online attenders are different from in-person participants on a variety of metrics. They are more likely to be Black, female, younger and never married,” the report says. “Likewise, they show lower levels of commitment in terms of financial giving, volunteering and attendance, whereas in-person attenders have significantly greater engagement with their church in every way.”
The most typical pattern is for online attenders to mix their home viewing with in-person attendance.
Among reasons someone might choose to attend worship services online, the most common answer is convenience, cited by 46% of respondents. The next most-common reason is a mixture of illness, accessibility, caregiving or being homebound.
“While most online worshippers pray, sing and follow along with the service, about two-thirds admit to doing other things simultaneously,” the report says
And in a surprising bit of good news for otherwise beleaguered church leaders, a majority of survey respondents said they have a somewhat or much stronger religious faith (55%) and sense of spirituality (57%) because of the pandemic. Also, 52% said they have a stronger sense of optimism about people of faith working across differences as a result of the pandemic.
Among other findings:
- Most church attenders said they have maintained or increased their involvement in activities like religious education, fellowship and service.
- Nearly 90% of church attenders pray at least weekly and two-thirds read Scripture regularly.
- Volunteering and financial giving have rebounded since the pandemic began. Half of churchgoers say they volunteer monthly, and more than a third say they have increased their financial giving.
- More than half the respondents said they give money online now.
- 46% of churchgoers regularly attend or view other church services.