While church attendance in the U.S. has remained stable and even increased after the COVID-19 pandemic, pastors are facing a new challenge of dealing with worshipers who adopt more than one denomination or congregation as their “home” church.
According to a national survey published in June by the project on Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations (EPIC), a staggering 46% of worshipers regularly attend or view multiple church services online, and 7% identify as having more than one “home” church.
Approximately one in five Christians who regularly participate in worship services elsewhere are doing so within a different denomination or faith tradition.
Of the tens of thousands surveyed from 80 different Christian traditions, 50% were evangelical, 32% were Catholic or Eastern Orthodox, and 18% were mainline Protestant.
Catholic and Orthodox churches were the most likely to have church switchers, while Evangelical churches were more likely than other traditions to have a greater percentage of converts. Smaller churches were more likely to have converts and returners, while churches with more than 250 members were most likely to attract switchers.
The spike in “two-timing” is a result of increased use of livestreaming services, which offers an “increased opportunity for easy and risk-free ‘shopping’ between congregations or attending multiple worship services,” the survey revealed.
While earlier surveys would have assumed that multichurch engagement was a sign of “church shopping”— worshippers considering leaving one church or denomination to join another, EPIC lead investigator Dr. Scott Thumma said this was not the case after COVID.
Attending Multiple Churches vs. Having Multiple “Home” Churches
Significantly, the survey uncovered a striking difference between worshippers who chose to attend more than one congregation or denomination while remaining rooted in their “home” church, and those who adopted multiple congregations or denominations as their “home” churches.
Merely participating in “multiple services regularly did not detract from one’s commitment to one’s home church,” Thumma noted.
Rather, it is “as if these highly committed religious persons wanted/needed more spiritual sustenance than their one church provided and sought out this nourishment elsewhere while remaining as involved in their home church,” he explained.
However, individuals who identified more than one congregation as their “home” church often find themselves feeling less connected to any single church community — leading to less participation, giving, volunteering, and engagement in activities compared to those who choose to commit to just one church.
The survey also found that 63% of the new attenders had switched to their current church because it “aligned with their beliefs, values, and preferences.”
Pastoral Challenges in Negotiating the Post-Pandemic Church
The Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf, senior minister at Lake Street Church of Evanston in Evanston, Ilinois, said the survey shows “how churches ought to think about their next steps in a post-pandemic world.”
“As communities of faith try to figure out just what a post-pandemic landscape looks like, one of the key takeaways has to be that it is important for the church to be itself, to be clear about its commitments and values, and to effectively communicate them,” he said.
“We are certainly not a church for everybody, but for those who call it home, the congregation aligns closely with their values and what role they think religion ought to play in the world. The result has been that for everyone we lost for taking strong stands on controversial issues [during COVID], we also gained someone.”
God certainly delights in diversity; how else can we explain so many different ways to be the Church? The key is to be church in a way that feels right — to new and long-tenured members, to the church’s context, and to the world. The rest will take care of itself.
“The challenge for clergy is how to deliver the stability of formerly established patterns for the two-thirds of long-term attenders while also maintaining the flexibility and openness to change for the remaining third of participants who joined during the pandemic,” the authors noted.
Post-Pandemic Survey Shows Encouraging Trends
On the whole, the survey revealed that the pandemic appeared to have more of a positive than negative impact on the religious and spiritual lives of churchgoers: 38% of respondents said they began attending their church in the past five years.
“These new members include switchers, returners, and first-time participants, many of whom bring more energy and higher optimism about their church’s future,” the authors noted.
Most attenders either remained consistently engaged or have increased their worship attendance. Two-thirds attend weekly, and over 80% report stable or increased attendance compared to five years ago — especially among newer and younger participants.
“For those who have remained as active participants in their churches, the pandemic seems to have been a catalyst to strengthen their faith, increase their giving and explore new ways of enhancing their spiritual practices,” Thumma said.
Participation in congregational programs remained stable or was growing, and personal religious practices remained strong among churchgoers, with nearly 90% praying weekly and two-thirds engaging in regular Bible reading.
Over half reported stronger faith and spirituality after the pandemic, and nearly half feel greater belonging, more trust in leaders, and a deeper connection to their church.
Giving had not only remained stable but had actually gone up in some churches, with more than a third (37%) increasing their financial contributions. Significantly, those in mainline churches were the most likely to have increased their giving in the past five years.
While the largest group of givers came from evangelicals who regularly tithe 10% of their income, Catholic and Orthodox churchgoers were slightly less likely to give than their Evangelical counterparts, as were members of Latino congregations — who were the least likely to contribute financially.
Dr. Jules Gomes (BA, BD, MTh, PhD) has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral.
