{"id":33823,"date":"2021-03-29T22:02:27","date_gmt":"2021-03-30T03:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=33823"},"modified":"2021-03-29T22:02:27","modified_gmt":"2021-03-30T03:02:27","slug":"u-s-church-membership-declines-to-under-50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/u-s-church-membership-declines-to-under-50\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Church Membership Declines to Under 50%"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Source:\u00a0<\/strong>Jeffrey M. Jones, “U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time<\/a>,” Gallup News, 29 March 2021.<\/p>\n

“47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque, down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999.”<\/p>\n

“The decline in church membership is primarily a function of the increasing number of Americans\u00a0who express no religious preference. Over the past two decades, the percentage of Americans who do not identify with any religion has grown from 8% in 1998-2000 to 13% in 2008-2010 and 21% over the past three years.”<\/p>\n

“The decline in church membership, then, appears largely tied to population change, with those in older generations who were likely to be church members being replaced in the U.S. adult population with people in younger generations who are less likely to belong.”<\/p>\n

“Since the turn of the century, there has been a near doubling in the percentage of traditionalists (from 4% to 7%), baby boomers (from 7% to 13%) and Gen Xers (11% to 20%) with no religious affiliation.”<\/p>\n

“Among religious groups, the decline in membership is steeper among Catholics (down 18 points, from 76% to 58%) than Protestants (down nine points, from 73% to 64%).”<\/p>\n

“In addition to Protestants, declines in church membership are proportionately smaller among political conservatives, Republicans, married adults and college graduates. These groups tend to have among the highest rates of church membership, along with Southern residents and non-Hispanic Black adults.\u00a0Over the past two decades, declines in church membership have been greater among Eastern residents and Democrats. Still, political independents have lower rates of church membership than Democrats do.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people<\/em>” (Proverbs 14:34).<\/p>\n

“Let them extol Him also in the congregation of the people, and praise Him at the seat of the elders. He changes rivers into a wilderness and springs of water into a thirsty ground; a fruitful land into a salt waste, because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it<\/em>” (Psalms 107:32-34).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source:\u00a0Jeffrey M. Jones, “U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time,” Gallup News, 29 March 2021. “47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque, down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999.” “The decline in church membership is primarily a function of the increasing number of Americans\u00a0who express no…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[356,448,544],"class_list":["post-33823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issues","tag-attendance","tag-church","tag-membership"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42466,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-need-to-really-study-the-catholic-church-before-making-incorrect-statements-on-your-website\/","url_meta":{"origin":33823,"position":0},"title":"You need to really study the Catholic Church before making incorrect statements on your website","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I converted from the church of Christ over 40 years ago and have been a member of the Catholic Church since then. Your online article is totally incorrect in almost all areas. Examples are you say we worship statues and idols. Totally incorrect! They are only there for reminders\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25239,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/must-a-person-formally-place-membership-with-a-local-church-before-they-participate-in-the-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":33823,"position":1},"title":"Must a person formally place membership with a local church before they participate in the work?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What are your thoughts regarding \"placing membership\" with a local congregation?\u00a0 I understand the biblical authority for someone working under the oversight of the elders of a congregation.\u00a0 If someone has been attending a congregation regularly for a period of time, can it be assumed they wish to work\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38885,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/placing-membership\/","url_meta":{"origin":33823,"position":2},"title":"Placing Membership","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Lee Moses Sometimes questions arise as to whether it is scripturally necessary, or even scripturally permissible, to \"place membership\" with a congregation. A modern brother or sister may raise the objection: \"I'm a member of the church of Christ, and that's good enough for me.\" What this person means\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69657,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-going-to-church-still-matter\/","url_meta":{"origin":33823,"position":3},"title":"Does Going to Church Still Matter?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clay Stauffer Adapted Pew Research has been tracking trends in America for many decades. Some of the most recent data is very eye-opening, if not alarming. In 2024, roughly 30% of Americans say they attend church regularly, loosely defined as once a month. Less than 50% of Americans now\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37831,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-membership-in-a-local-church-essential\/","url_meta":{"origin":33823,"position":4},"title":"Is membership in a local church essential?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: As always,\u00a0love\u00a0your dedication to the Lord and the time you take to answer so many questions.\u00a0 I come to your site\u00a0often. It is one of my favorite resources! In regards to the recent post:\u00a0Should a divisive non-member be told not to come to worship?\u00a0One point that has been on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2383,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-scriptural-to-join-a-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":33823,"position":5},"title":"Is it scriptural to “join” a church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 6, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about joining a church. I'm a bit at a loss to know how to go forward. This is all rather new to me as my family left \"going to church\" decades ago and have since worshiped with other Christians in homes or fellowships. One of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}