Pew Research Center study on why Americans attend Religious Services

On August 1 the Pew Research Center shared an exhaustive survey of Americans about the reasons they attend religious services.  The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. 

An overview of the survey’s results can be found here:

http://www.pewforum.org/2018/08/01/why-americans-go-to-religious-services/ 

The complete 35 page survey can be found here:

http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2018/08/01115554/Attending-or-not-attending-relig-services-FOR-WEB.pdf

The survey was conducted among 4,729 respondents between December 4-18, 2017

The information that the Pew Research Center found is so rich and even complex that I depend on them to interpret it.  They shared that the top four reasons U.S. adults give for choosing to attend a religious service are:

1) To become closer to God;

2) So children will have moral foundation;

3) To make me a better person;

4) For comfort in times of trouble/sorrow

These four reasons have already been helpful to me as I lead Chain of Lakes Church.  On August 5 I shared a sermon on what is important to know about being Presbyterian.  The link to the sermon is here: https://vimeo.com/283466380.  At the start of the sermon I shared these four reasons that people attend a congregation. I shared that nowhere in the study does a person claims they attend a religious service to be a better Presbyterian, or Lutheran, or Catholic.  When a person chooses a local congregation to visit I am confident that the denomination of the place is much less important in that choice than it was 25 or 50 years ago. 

We live in a post-denominational age.

However denominations are still significant as the way a congregation practices faith can help people become closer to God. Presbyterians value women in leadership. Yesterday as I was encouraging people to sign up to help mow the church property I shared that we don’t expect just men to get on a riding lawn mower. Women can help too.  For people who don’t value women in leadership a Presbyterian church might not help them become closer to God.

I’m already taking this information as the leaders of Chain of Lakes evaluate worship services. From now on I’m going to ask the question, “How did this worship service help people become closer to God?” A basic question—for sure. But the question can drive the right conversation.

Buried in the survey is one result that I found fascinating. Protestants are roughly twice as likely as Catholics to say valuable sermons are important reasons to attend worship. As someone who has attended worship in both Protestant and Catholic communities I can affirm this finding. I love my Catholic brothers and sisters, but the quality of sermons in these communities is much lower than I’ve heard in Protestant communities.

I want to encourage every religious leader to spend some significant time studying this survey. The results can help all of us as we discern how to connect better with people in our communities.