Christians are in the midst of changes of where and how people worship. That’s according to a recent report from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. It details how those changes are impacting smaller communities and churches. NWPB’s Senior Correspondent Anna King sat down with Tracy Simmons, of FāVS News, to discuss.
Anna King:
Tracy, this report contains what researchers call the most striking finding in 25 years of tracking church attendance. But the picture is more complicated than the headline suggests. What are you seeing in the data around who is actually growing, who is struggling and what's happening to smaller congregations?
Tracy Simmons:
Yeah, there's a lot to unpack there in that question. So for the first time since this particular team of researchers — who are working with the Hartford Institute of Religion Research — began tracking worship attendance in the year 2000, median in-person attendance has actually gone up. I think that's significant because for more than two decades, the line was only going in one direction, which was down.
King:
That's really interesting. The researchers are careful to call this a recalibration rather than a revival, and that distinction seems especially important for mainline Protestant churches: denominations like Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans and Episcopalians. What does the data show there, and what does recalibration actually mean?
Simmons:
I would say a revival suggests something really transformational, and that's not what the data supports here. Most of the growth that we're seeing reflects people moving between congregations – so not people outside religious life coming back in. About 70% of people to a new congregation had actually switched from another church. So the religious participation isn't expanding, but it's redistributing. I would say it's redistributing unevenly. Evangelical churches are the only group showing net growth, whereas the mainline churches that you mentioned before, which are the more theologically progressive traditions, actually declined 20% over the past five years. Smaller congregations, so those with less than 50 people, were hit the hardest, and they are recovering the slowest. Those small congregations are often the connective tissues of a community, especially in rural areas.
King:
You spoke with congregations right here in the region. What did their experiences tell you about how this national story is playing out locally?
Simmons:
I think the people I talked to really illustrate the two sides of this report in a pretty striking way. For example, a church here on the Palouse, Emmanuel Baptist, which is an evangelical congregation, grew from about 250 people in 2019, to 350 people in 2025. I also interviewed a pastor at Manito Presbyterian Church in Spokane, which is a mainline congregation. They're telling a different story. So they're down 10% to 15% from pre-pandemic levels.
King:
What are you hearing from mainline pastors about what's driving that?
Simmons:
I think there are a few things. A big one was COVID-19 itself. So people used that disruption to make a move they'd been thinking about, which was maybe moving to a different congregation or leaving church altogether. And some left over how the church itself handled the pandemic restrictions. Mainline churches were closed and stayed closed longer, for 12 months on average, compared to four months for evangelical churches. And I think that data shows a pretty direct correlation between length of closure and slower recovery.
King:
The researchers say the challenge isn't recovering what was lost, but leading in a changed landscape. What does that actually look like for a congregation, Tracy?
Simmons:
I think the Manito Presbyterian Church up in Spokane points to a version of that. They are doing less, but they're doing it with more intention and more clarity. The Reverend Pam Starbuck said that in 2021, a major flood went through the church, so they had to force themselves to rethink their building and how it was used. And what emerged out of that was a leaner ministry that opened its doors to more specific groups, community groups, like the Spokane Youth Symphony. So they stopped trying to be everything, and they started asking what they could actually sustain and sustain well. And that report that we're talking about shows congregations with a strong sense of mission and willingness to change are bouncing back.
King:
Tracy, it's always a pleasure to speak with you. Thank you for spending a little time with me.
Simmons:
Thanks, Anna.
Note: This interview has been edited for clarity.
