Average pastor's in-person attendance as a share of pre-pandemic attendance
Percent of pre-pandemic attendance, U.S. Protestant churches, August 2021 (in percent)
Key finding
- Average pastor's in-person attendance as a share of pre-pandemic attendance: 73%. By August 2021, the average pastor saw 73% of their church members in person on Sunday morning
Source: Lifeway Research, Almost All Churches and Most Churchgoers Are Now Gathering in Person · Lifeway Research phone survey of 1,000 Protestant pastors; sampling error plus or minus 3.2%. Article published 2021-11-02.
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Questions about this statistic
What does this statistic show?
Average pastor's in-person attendance as a share of pre-pandemic attendance: 73%. By August 2021, the average pastor saw 73% of their church members in person on Sunday morning.
Who published this data?
Lifeway Research, 2021. Source: Lifeway Research, Almost All Churches and Most Churchgoers Are Now Gathering in Person (https://research.lifeway.com/2021/11/02/almost-all-churches-and-most-churchgoers-are-now-gathering-in-person/).
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More Attendance statistics
- Change in congregations' worship attendance over two years Lifeway Research, 2026
- Churchgoers' views on the amount of liturgical style in their church Lifeway Research, 2026
- Regular religious service attendance by age group Lifeway Research, 2026
- Americans who attend religious services at least monthly Lifeway Research, 2022
- Americans who attend religious services at least weekly Lifeway Research, 2022
- Americans who say they never attend religious services Lifeway Research, 2022
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.