How people were first introduced to their church
Percent of church switchers (in percent)
Key finding
Almost nine in ten first heard through a person.
- Invited by a friend: 31%
- Word of mouth: 29%
- Invited by family: 27%
Source: Lifeway Research, Church Switchers · n=1,001 Protestant churchgoers who switched churches, Jul 26 to Aug 4, 2023. Published Nov 9, 2023.
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?
Almost nine in ten first heard through a person. Invited by a friend: 31%. Word of mouth: 29%. Invited by family: 27%.
Who published this data?
Lifeway Research, 2025. Source: Lifeway Research, Church Switchers (https://news.lifeway.com/2023/11/09/church-switchers-identify-factors-behind-their-decision-expect-a-lot-from-new-congregation/).
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 Visitors statistics
- How church switchers find a new church Lifeway Research, 2025
- New attendees who did not previously attend church at all Lifeway Research, 2025
- Ways Protestant churches welcome guests Lifeway Research, 2025
- What matters when choosing a church Lifeway Research, 2025
- Where new congregation attendees came from Lifeway Research, 2025
- Likelihood of attending church at Christmas if invited Lifeway Research, 2024
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.