Barna Research Group’s 2021 State of the Church survey found that most churchgoers experience encouragement after worship.
The survey, released April 14, 2021, found that an overwhelming majority of practicing Christians and two out of three churchgoers felt encouraged most of the time after worshipping. According to the survey, “over four in five practicing Christians (82 percent) and roughly two-thirds of churchgoers (67 percent)—U.S. adults who have been to church in the past six months—say they leave worship services feeling encouraged at least ‘most of the time’.”
Additionally, the survey found that an overwhelming majority of practicing Christians and roughly two in three churchgoers also felt inspired most of the time.
Reportedly, more than three-quarters of practicing Christians (78 percent) and just under two-thirds of church-going adults (65 percent) “agree that they feel inspired ‘most of the time,’ or more often, after participating in a worship service.”
Further, the survey found a comparable percentage of practicing Christians and churchgoers also felt forgiven most of the time after worship. “A similar percentage (77 percent practicing Christians, 65 percent churched adults) says they feel forgiven at least “most of the time” following church attendance,” the survey said.
However, the survey also found that many churched adults feel “disappointed” after leaving church and a full 40 percent feel guilty about half of the time or more. The survey says, “Even though the majority of both practicing Christians (42 percent) and churched adults (34 percent) say they ‘almost never’ leave church feeling guilty, roughly one-quarter each says this ‘sometimes’ happens (29 percent practicing Christians, 26 percent churched adults).” The survey also found that after attending a church service, church-going adults are more likely to say they feel guilty “about half the time”, with 18 percent of churched adults and 11 percent of practicing Christians saying they felt guilty “about half the time”.
However, according to the survey, churchgoers feel connections to God at least most of the time. Additionally, many feel they have learned something new, with a full 71 percent of practicing Christians reporting this. The survey notes that “roughly seven in 10 practicing Christians (71 percent) and three in five churchgoers (59 percent) also affirm that, ‘most of the time,’ they leave worship feeling as if they’ve learned something new.”
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John Paluska has been a contributor for Christian Headlines since 2016 and is the founder of The Washington Gazette, a news outlet he relaunched in 2019 as a response to the constant distribution of fake news.
