1.0Church Answershttps://churchanswers.comrich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="mu1DT9c7n6"><a href="https://churchanswers.com/blog/the-long-term-impact-of-covid-19-on-worship-attendance-the-real-numbers/">The Long-Term Impact of COVID-19 on Worship Attendance (The Real Numbers!)</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://churchanswers.com/blog/the-long-term-impact-of-covid-19-on-worship-attendance-the-real-numbers/embed/#?secret=mu1DT9c7n6" width="600" height="338" title="“The Long-Term Impact of COVID-19 on Worship Attendance (The Real Numbers!)” — Church Answers" data-secret="mu1DT9c7n6" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript"> /* <![CDATA[ */ /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); //# sourceURL=https://churchanswers.com/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js /* ]]> */ </script> https://churchanswers.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/People-attending-church.png1200628It’s staggering to consider, but it has been five years since COVID-19 became a global pandemic. The virus was first identified in the United States in late January 2020, and by March of that same year, every state had implemented some measures to restrict gatherings in person. Easter Sunday fell on April 20th of that year, and it’s fair to say that fewer people were in church that day than on Easter in the last hundred years. Pastors and churches were divided over a wide variety of approaches to the pandemic. Some were very public in defiance of government rules and continued to meet without interruption, even in the first half of 2020. Others ceased meeting in person for months or even years after the onset of the pandemic. However, many churches did something in between—requiring masks, limiting total attendance to allow for social distancing, or adding an online component to worship that was not high on the priority list before 2020. Now that we are five years past the pandemic, social science can start to answer some questions about the long-term effects the lockdowns had on religion in the United States. In this instance, I gathered some church attendance data from four of the larger Protestant denominations. Within the evangelical tradition, I examined the records of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Assemblies of God. For mainline denominations, I retrieved the files for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. These findings greatly enhance our understanding of how COVID-19 transformed the American religious landscape.