What keeps churchgoers from participating in prison ministry
Percent of American Protestant churchgoers, 2024 (in percent)
Key finding
Highest: Don't feel called to serve prisoners (26%). Lowest: Prisoners aren't deserving of redemption (1%).
- Don't feel called to serve prisoners: 26%
- Too busy: 25%
- Distance involved: 20%
Source: Lifeway Research, Few Churchgoers Actively Engaged With Prison Ministry · Online survey of 1,006 American Protestant churchgoers, January 8-12, 2024. Article published 2024-05-16.
See all 11 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: Don't feel called to serve prisoners (26%). Lowest: Prisoners aren't deserving of redemption (1%). Don't feel called to serve prisoners: 26%. Too busy: 25%. Distance involved: 20%.
Who published this data?
Lifeway Research, 2024. Source: Lifeway Research, Few Churchgoers Actively Engaged With Prison Ministry (https://research.lifeway.com/2024/05/16/few-churchgoers-actively-engaged-with-prison-ministry/).
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 Outreach & Evangelism statistics
- Nones more willing to hear a Christian's faith if they don't claim all the answers Lifeway Research, 2026
- Nones who say they don't understand the language of most churches Lifeway Research, 2026
- Unaffiliated Americans on whether Christian language relates to what they care about Lifeway Research, 2026
- Christians who strongly agree they have a personal responsibility to share their faith Barna Group, 2025
- Churches not involved with area schools Lifeway Research, 2025
- Churchgoers eager to talk about Jesus with people unlike them Lifeway Research, 2025
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.