Weekly worshipers: Part 1

By Deborah Bruce

Weekly worshipers are surprisingly common in congregations across this country. Three-quarters of worshipers (76%) report attending services every week or more often. How do they compare to worshipers who attend less frequently?

Demographic differences.  Weekly attendees differ from other worshipers on several dimensions. They are older, less likely to be employed, more likely to be retired, and less likely to have children at home. Worshipers with jobs and children at home have many other things competing for their time, and this appears to have an impact on their worship attendance. On the other hand, weekly worshipers are similar to those who attend less often in terms of gender.

Weekly worshipers are also long-term attendees. Half have been attending their congregation for more than 10 years. Long-term commitment to the congregation goes hand in hand with weekly attendance. Looking at those who attend less often, we find that 39% of these worshipers are new people who began attending their congregation in the past five years.

	Attend Weekly	Attend Less Often
45 or older	73%	56%
Female	62%	59%
Employed	56%	66%
Retired	32%	17%
Married	66%	64%
Children living at home	41%	51%
Attending more than 10 years	53%	33%

Are Catholic worshipers more likely than Protestant worshipers to attend weekly?  No. Three-quarters of Catholic worshipers (76%), 73% of mainline Protestants, and 79% of conservative Protestants come to worship on a weekly basis. While the differences are small, the more conservative Protestants attend worship on a weekly basis.

In my next post, I'll focus on other ways weekly worshipers are different from those who attend less frequently.