What Does Church Attendance Really Mean?

 

Weekly church attendance has long been one of the metrics we have used to measure the health of a local congregation.  If the number of people in the pews is consistent, or even showing grow, we have considered the church healthy.  In such cases the leadership is happy and the staff is commended.  Pastors and other church staff can easily fall into the “numbers trap,” feeling all is well. I also must admit it is not just a trap for the clergy.  I recall my days in parish ministry when one of the first questions asked by the Pastor on Monday morning was “how many kids showed up for youth group last night?”  I tended to gauge my success on numbers. 

In actuality, attendance has always been an inaccurate way to gage the health of a church.  Even consistent or growing numbers can be deceiving if people are there for the wrong reason.  I have often wondered; how many folks are in church to be spiritually fed and equipped for discipleship, versus how many are present simply for social reasons?  I have always felt that Bible class attendance is a better measuring stick when it comes to determining the spiritual health of a worship community. 

The truth is; none of this means diddly-squat in the post-pandemic world.  COVID-19 changed everything.  Suddenly churches were forced to pivot and switch to online worship.  As we emerge from the pandemic and people return, the new reality is hybrid worship.  Measuring online attendance is tricky.  Looking at the total number of views can be deceiving because you do not know how much people have actually watched.  Did they log on to check us out and quickly decided it was “not what they wanted” or did they just focus on the pastor’s message? 

There is an additional reality here: Church membership and even attendance does not mean what it once did.  Many of those under forty are simply not in the market to join a church.  It is more about having their personal needs and interests catered to.  They will jump from one church, and even denomination, to another simply because it is where their friends are at, or the pastor is a dynamic speaker. 

We need to ask ourselves the question: are we in the numbers game or are we interested in discipleship?  The paradigm has shifted away from filling the pews on Sunday morning to being in ministry where we are at.  The future of the church is dependent on our ability to reach people in the places where they live, work and play. 

My own pastor, Micah Miller, reminded the people at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church a few weeks back that Sunday morning is really practice for what happens in the real world.  People who worship on Sunday are the “core group of disciples.”  They must leave the building equipped and motivated to be the hands, feet and ears of Jesus.  I intentionally did not say “the voice” of Jesus.  In the past we have put a lot of emphasis on sharing the good news verbally.  In the current culture, we must earn the right to share our message.  We need to first have a relationship, and that happens when we serve and listen. 

In the future, we need to focus less on Sunday morning and more on being Jesus 24/7/365.  When we do share the Gospel message, we need to focus less on getting people to join our church and more on getting them to know and walk with Jesus.