Areas where rural congregations have people who lead or help significantly
Percent of rural pastors who say their congregation has such people, 2026 (in percent)
Key finding
Highest: Caring for church members' needs (87%). Lowest: Evangelism (61%).
- Caring for church members' needs: 87%
- Service to the community: 83%
- Women's ministry: 82%
Source: Lifeway Research, Developing Leaders in a Rural Church · Article published 2026-01-07.
See all 7 categories, the full chart and more
Free account: full chart, CSV and PNG downloads, ready-to-paste citation, branded share image, and a discussion question for your team.
Questions about this statistic
What does this statistic show?
Highest: Caring for church members' needs (87%). Lowest: Evangelism (61%). Caring for church members' needs: 87%. Service to the community: 83%. Women's ministry: 82%.
Who published this data?
Lifeway Research, 2026. Source: Lifeway Research, Developing Leaders in a Rural Church (https://research.lifeway.com/2026/01/07/developing-leaders-in-a-rural-church/).
Where can I get the full data and a citation?
Create a free Leader Insights account to open the full chart, download CSV or PNG, copy a citation and save the statistic to your own library.
More Church Health statistics
- Churchgoers' satisfaction with their church's amount of liturgical style Lifeway Research, 2026
- Disability-related modifications churches made in the past year Lifeway Research, 2026
- Effect of the current economy on churches, as seen by pastors Lifeway Research, 2026
- How churches care for people with disabilities and their families Lifeway Research, 2026
- How liturgical churchgoers say their church's style is Lifeway Research, 2026
- How liturgical churchgoers say their church's style is Lifeway Research, 2026
About this data
Leader Insights collects statistics about U.S. churches from published research by organizations such as Lifeway Research, Barna Group, Springtide, the American Bible Society and PRRI. Every number is checked against the wording of the original source before it is published, and each statistic links back to the study it came from. Figures are reproduced from the publishers named above; see the source for full methodology.