I have been noticing something. People attend their home church less than in years past. By this, I mean fewer times on average per year. And I am talking about Christians who love their church!
At first, I shrugged off the observation. Surely it was merely anecdotal. But it seemed that the observation and trend grew.
Then I began to read more and more about others also noticing this. And I began to talk to other pastors who were noticing the same. So what’s up? What are some possible reasons for this seeming shift?
Kudos to Carey Nieuwhof for his excellent blog about this topic. http://careynieuwhof.com/2015/02/10-reasons-even-committed-church-attenders-attending-less-often/. Carey brought up some potential reasons that I had not considered. He gives 10 reasons that are truly worth the read.
The two that most resonate with me are “higher focus on kids activities” and “disappearance of guilt.” In the past, kids activities gave space for parents to attend church AND participate on a sports team or kids club. Those days are gone. Fields are scheduled non-stop, and Sunday morning is scheduled just as often for kids activities as any other day of the week.
My favorite story of this happened a few years ago. My daughter was on a high school dance team. They made it to state competition. Guess when they scheduled the playoff games? Easter weekend!! That’s our culture today. And Christian parents often face this challenge of wanting their kids to participate in weekend sports that collides with attending church on Sunday morning.
I also think Carey is onto truth with his observation that there is a “disappearance of guilt” over not attending church. Honestly that was never the best motivator anyway. Increasingly it is the job of leadership to help the saints to see the value of corporate worship and to actively engage with God. When corporate worship feels like just another entertainment option, the church loses – and so do individual believers.
Check out all of Carey’s points. My guess is that you will find this especially helpful if you are in church leadership.
Brian Boone 
June 13th, 2016 at 2:50 pm
Brian, I cannot deny the kids activities as a reason for people. Certainly guilt used to be a very real reason for families to be in church, but I thought Carey’s reference of the online service to be underestimated. Looking at my peers. Some of them FEEL more engaged in the online church service or campus because there is more for them to interact with during that service than just sitting in a chair and singing a few songs.
I have been struggling to incorporate ways for our Sunday gathering to involve attendees in ways that they could not do if they were watching online. (We don’t stream but we do podcast audio).
Especially with my generation, I have noticed a desire to connect to some of the liturgical things that the boomers and Xers pushed so hard away from, whether it is something like corporate confession or corporate prayer. We have employed one of our youth each Sunday to stand and proclaim the scripture immediately before the sermon.