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Jesus Christ. Of some 375,000 congregations, about eight out of ten are struggling to maintain the same number of attenders each year. 3 Very few churches are growing.
As churches get weaker, the need for help only gets greater. We hear a growing plea from the non-Christian culture for help from the religious community. and queries to our organization. Prior to COVID-19, 65 percent of the churches with whom we interacted had declining attendance. The number of declining churches jumped to slightly more than 80 percent during the post pandemic years of 2021 to 2024.
Adapted from The Anxious Generation Goes to Church: What Research Says about What Younger Generations Need( and Want) from Your Church by Thom S. Rainer, releasing in August 2025.
Here is the irony: The non-Christian culture increasingly recognizes that churches and Christians are desperately needed. Sadly, the urgency articulated by our culture seems greater than the urgency of most churches in America.
1. See Robert Wuthnow, Acts of Compassion: Caring for Others and Helping Ourselves( Princeton University Press, 1991). 2.“ About Three-in-Ten US Adults Are Now Religiously Unaffiliated,” Pew Research Center, December 14, 2021, https:// www. pewresearch. org / religion / 2021 / 12 / 14 / about-three-inten-u-s-adults-are-now-religiously-unaffiliated /.
3. At Church Answers, we keep track of between 700 and 1,200 churches a year through our consultations, pastoral coaching,
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Thom S. Rainer is the founder and CEO of Church Answers. With forty years of ministry experience, Thom has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of the local church and its leaders. He has been a pastor of four churches and interim pastor of ten churches, as well as a bestselling author, popular speaker, professor, and dean. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama and earned his MDiv and PhD degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Thom has written numerous books, including Pray & Go, I Am a Christian, The Post-Quarantine Church, and three number one bestsellers. He and his wife live in Franklin, Tennessee.