Over the past several decades, the average weekly worship attendance of Christian congregations has been decreasing. In 1998, the median number of regular participants of Christian congregations in the United States was 80 people[1], and by 2018-19 this had dropped to 70 participants for the average congregation[2]. Smaller congregations usually have fewer financial resources and…
One of the most thoughtful gestures related to my ministry occurred a few months ago. I received an email from a United Methodist district superintendent in Mississippi. Mississippi is where I was first a pastor in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s. Her message was, “Today I am sitting around the Cabinet table, and we…
How are congregations faring two years after the outbreak of the COVID pandemic in the United States? Has the number of worshipers who attend services in their houses of worship reached the level it was before the pandemic started? Is worshiping online still the “new normal”? Starting in July 2020, Pew Research Center carried out…