CHICAGO (NewsNation) — A recent survey reveals that daily life is increasingly impacting regular church attendance among Americans, particularly Generation X.

The Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University’s study unveils a 13% decline in church participation among those aged 39 to 57 since 2020.

The demanding responsibilities of jobs, caring for elders and raising children affect adults in their 40s and 50s. The pandemic caused attendance interruptions, and many struggle to resume Sunday worship.

Of the four generations, Millennials experienced the least change in their perspectives about the
Christian faith and their participation in biblical practices.

Out of the two dozen comparable measures of religious beliefs and behaviors examined before and after the pandemic, America’s youngest adult generation had just five statistically significant changes:

• Embracing their life’s purpose as knowing, loving, and serving God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength rose by 9%
• Believing that the Bible is true and accurate words of God rose by 8%
• Believing that God is the basis of truth, as revealed to humanity in the Bible, decreased by 7%
• Taking time to personally read or study the Bible during the week, other than when attending a church event, dropped by 6%
• Attending a church worship service, either in-person or online, dropped by 7%

Pastor Paige Junaeus, the executive pastor at Congregation Family, says after the pandemic restrictions were lifted, she noticed “a slow drip” of parishioners returning to in-person services.

“Everyone lost their privilege to go out and do things and really spend time with relatives. It was almost like, psychologically, people just have just started to just travel, they just started to feel like they really needed to catch up on this the two years that they had lost,” Junaeus said.

The surge in attending church services online has continued to remain in place for a large majority of Americans.

In 2020, 41% of Gen X attended a Christian church worship service, in-person or online, during the
week compared to 35% of Millennials, 34% of Baby Boomers, and 56% of Elders.

The number declined significantly in 2023 among Gen X, 28%, and Millennials, 28%, attending a Christian church worship service, in-person or online, during the week compared to 38% of baby boomers and 53% of elders.

“We have probably about 2 to 3,000 watching online, and our attendance is probably about anywhere from 100 people attending, so that’s quite a difference,” Junaeus said.

Ultimately, Junaeus noted the decline impacts the church and staff, as the church is a nonprofit.

“So we work very hard to motivate and to welcome those to come back to church. We are working on that on a weekly basis,” she said.