More persons are going to church than before the pandemic

Evangelical churches up and down the country are reporting a rise within the number of individuals exploring faith and finding Jesus.

Latest research by the UK Evangelical Alliance (EA UK) has found that twice as many persons are committing to Jesus now than in 2021 in the course of the pandemic.

The Changing Church 2025 study surveyed 305 church leaders and nearly a thousand individuals to learn the way the evangelical Church within the UK has modified for the reason that pandemic. 

Although smaller churches are struggling, there are also some encouraging findings, with churches reporting increased attendance and an openness to faith. 

Churches reported a median increase in attendance of 13% since January 2020, just before the UK went into its first lockdown.

They also reported twice as many individuals making first-time commitments to follow Jesus as when surveyed in 2021 – a median of three.5 people per church within the last three months.

The EA UK’s research lead, Danny Webster, said the findings were a sign that “church life has bounced back” for the reason that difficult years of the pandemic. 

Gavin Calver, CEO of Evangelical Alliance, is optimistic: “The last five years have modified the evangelical church within the UK. 

“What I’m seeing as I travel across the country is churches which can be growing as they confidently share the hope of Jesus, and a general openness to faith, which is reflected in our latest Changing Church report.”

Despite the excellent news, challenges remain, with the study also finding a pointy drop in weekly attendance. In 2020, just over 90% of people said they were attending church weekly. Today this has fallen to 78%. 

The study also reveals that church growth is a mixed picture – most of it has been occurring in larger churches, while smaller churches have been shrinking. 

When it involves volunteering, larger churches were more prone to have seen a rise in comparison with medium-sized churches which experienced a decrease. Volunteering numbers have remained stable in smaller churches. The biggest volunteering shortfall is in kid’s and youth ministry.

One in five churches said a volunteering shortage was affecting their ability to run some ministries, while around half said they were managing to get by with the numbers they’d.

Larger churches were also more prone to see a rise in giving, however the study found that even where this has been the case, it has not been enough to maintain pace with inflation.

Mr Webster said: “The research demonstrates that churches have modified since they were forced to shut within the pandemic. For larger churches, they’re growing and smaller churches are struggling, but churches of all sizes are seeing people join them.  

“While we found that habits of engaging with churches and church activities had modified, for instance, people attend barely less ceaselessly, in most areas, church life has bounced back for the reason that Covid shutdown.  

“One key trend identified within the research is the several experience for big and small churches; this has an inevitable knock-on effect, so smaller churches usually tend to report struggles with income and volunteering.”

The report will be read in full here