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Amid COVID-19, most US churches provide hybrid worship, half stopped picnics

RNS

Eight in 10 US churches now provide hybrid services, offering options for congregants to worship either in person or online during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research.

Almost a quarter of churches, the report said, have moderate to severe conflicts about pandemic restrictions.

US woman at church

PICTURE: Gabriella Clare Marino/Unsplash/Creative Commons.

Amid technological adjustments, decisions about government and their own denominations’ COVID-19 restrictions on gathering, and greater requests for food and financial assistance, 67 per cent of clergy said 2020 was the hardest year of their ministry.

The new study,which surveyed 2,074 churches from 38 denominations online this summer, is the first look from the institute’s project on the state of churches in the wake of the ongoing pandemic.

“These findings from the summer clearly show that the pandemic has had a profound impact across the religious spectrum, and that some churches are faring better than others,” Scott Thumma, principal investigator, said in announcing the study. “The fact that 83 per cent of churches had at least one member test positive shows that almost no congregation was spared, but over two-thirds feel they will emerge stronger than before implies these faith communities are a resilient bunch.”

Thumma, in an interview, said he was surprised that a third of the clergy did not say the last year was their most difficult in ministry.

“You have to wonder, OK, so what year of your ministry was harder than the past year?” he said.

“Overall, it really shows that, I think, there are a good many congregations that have survived in pretty decent form but then there’s also a large chunk of them that are in kind of still a very bad way.”


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The vast majority of churches – 88 per cent – suspended in-person worship for some period of time. Most of those churches – 93 per cent – have now resumed gathering in person.

Despite the switch for so many congregations to a hybrid model, more than half of the churches in the survey (54 per cent) reported that at the pandemic’s height they completely halted fellowship events, such as church suppers and picnics.

But more than 30 per cent of congregations saw growth in requests for food assistance, counseling and spiritual guidance and a quarter received more requests for financial help.



The rise in demand for these community services came as the churches saw an overall decline in the volunteers who might help meet those needs.

Churches reported that just 15 per cent of regular adult participants were volunteering, a significant drop from pre-pandemic times, when the Faith Communities Today survey reported 40 per cent of participants volunteering.

“In the same way that supply chains have been drastically upended by the pandemic, so too have many congregational ministry systems been disrupted,” the study noted.

The majority of clergy (62 per cent) encouraged church members to get vaccinated, but that stance varied significantly depending on their denominational affiliation.

“Among clergy from historically African American denominations 100 per cent encouraged vaccinations, while 77 per cent of Mainline Protestant clergy, 49 per cent of Catholic/Orthodox clergy and 41 per cent of Evangelical Protestant clergy publicly encouraged their attendees to get vaccinated,” the study stated. “Within majority Latino churches from various denominations, 65 per cent of their clergy encouraged the vaccine.”

Eight per cent of congregations have served as vaccine or test sites, and most of those were larger churches.

Scott Thumma

Scott Thumma. PICTURE: Shana Sureck Photography

Researchers found that the pandemic is not affecting churches’ attendance equally. Since 2019, 35 per cent of churches saw a decline of 25 per cent or more. But 28 per cent of congregations said they grew in the past two years, with 18 per cent reporting growth of 25 per cent or more.

The mode of delivery of worship services was a major factor in whether median attendance increased or fell. For example, the 15 per cent of churches that met solely in person saw the steepest decline in attendance – 15.7 per cent. The five per cent of congregations that offered only online worship had a decline of 7.3 per cent.

But the 80 per cent of congregations offering hybrid worship experienced an overall growth of 4.5 per cent.

“These congregations tended to be larger with younger clergy, reporting moderate willingness to change, and expressing some struggles to adapt,” the study stated. “They also reported the most infections of Covid-19 of staff and members, as well as the most congregational deaths. These congregations represent 60 per cent of Catholic/Orthodox congregations, 62 per cent of Mainline, and 90 per cent of all Evangelical congregations.”

Overall, the study found that 17 per cent of churches had one or more members die of COVID-19 and 37 per cent had a least one staff member test positive for the virus.

The study also found widely varying giving patterns. While four in 10 churches saw an increase in giving, another three in 10 reported a decline in donations from members.

The study, titled Navigating the Pandemic: A First Look at Congregational Responses, is the first of a new five-year project led by the institute at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace (formerly known as Hartford Seminary). It is based on a collaboration among 13 denominations from the Faith Communities Today cooperative partnership and institute staffers.

It has an estimated overall margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

 

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