BUFFALO (WBEN) - Earlier this week, Gallup released statistics that indicate the majority of Americans are not members to a house of worship, whether that be a church, mosque, or synagogue, "down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999."
"We have experienced younger people not being as attracted to the church as they would be in the past," said Pastor Fred Kopp of Trinity Old Lutheran Church.
According to Gallup, U.S. church membership was 73% when they first measured it in 1937 and remained near 70% for 60 years until the beginning of a steady decline starting around 2000.
In their analysis, Gallup discovered some of the reasons for decline include a lack of religious affiliation and generational differences, and they even noted decline in all major subgroups, meaning this is a relatively universal phenomenon.
Watermark Wesleyan Pastor Paul Gartley doesn't deny the numbers shared by Gallup, but he isn't currently concerned about attendance numbers at his church, noting that they may be a bit of an outlier.
"It's hard to say right now in the middle of COVID because numbers have, with every church that I'm aware of, dropped dramatically during COVID," said Gartley. "But prior to COVID, we were probably maintaining.
"Attendance always fluctuates a little bit here or there depending on season or time of year, or other factors, but I wouldn't say we were in a state of great decline," Gartley continued. "In fact, looking at the study, over the last 20 years, there's been periods of growth, periods of decline, and then other periods of growth."
While Gartley isn't immediately concerned about declining attendance or membership at Watermark, the general decline among churches in the United States could cause problems for community outreach efforts. However Gartley contends there's a still a strong desire to volunteer.
"Our community outreach pre-COVID and especially during COVID was very strong," he said. "We found that people wanted to be a part of helping other who were in need; we found that our congregants were looking regularly for those opportunities, so we've been trying to create them as time has gone on."
However, Kopp said his church has relied a lot on members of the community that aren't necessarily members of a church body.
"People want to volunteer, so whether they're a member of the church or they're not a member of the church, friends of friends and people are inviting people to be a part of the ministries that we have whether they come to church services or not," said Kopp.
"Whether we do a Habitat for Humanity Day...we see that half the people are people from the community that are helping us out," Kopp continued. "You just have to be a little bit more creative and invite more people and not just rely on your own members."
