Black Pastors See Popular Easter Services as an Opportunity to Rebuild In-Person Worship Attendance
The monthly church attendance of Black Protestants declined 15% from 2019 to 2023, a larger drop than any other major religious group.
Subversive Are Those Who Mourn
This issue of A Public Witness explores the subversive power of public mourning — like what happened recently after the state murder of Russian political dissident Alexei Navalny — to better understand a Beatitude of Jesus.
US Pastors Struggle With Post-Pandemic Burnout. Survey Shows Half Considered Quitting Since 2020
More than 4 in 10 of clergy have seriously considered leaving their congregations at least once since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and more than half thought seriously of leaving the ministry.
Pandemic Boosted Resilience, Hurt Financial Health of Black Churches, Says Report
A new report highlights the challenges faced by Black and multiracial congregations, as well as their resilience, in the wake of COVID-19.
COVID-19 Health Emergency Is Ending but Faith-Based Vaccine Clinics Continue
Over the last few years, African American congregations have provided outsized action on getting people tested and vaccinated.
Study: Religious Attendance Dips Slightly After Pandemic
The study found the share of U.S. adults who generally say they attend religious services at least once a month dropped from 33% in 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak, to 30% in 2022.
Progressive National Baptists To Deploy $1 Million Grant to Boost ‘Compelling Preaching’
The Progressive National Baptist Convention plans to use a new $1 million grant to fund a five-year training program for ministers of the historically Black denomination as they adapt their preaching in an age changed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
More Americans Stay Away From Church as Pandemic Nears Year Three
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly every congregation in the United States shut down, at least for a while. For some Americans, that was the push they needed to never come back to church.
A Once-Dying Church Hopes To Reinvent Itself With Coffee and Kindness
The ongoing decline of organized religion in America has led to an existential crisis for tens of thousands of congregations. Over the past two decades, the median size of a congregation has dropped from 137 people to 65 people. Rather than owning a building that
Did Faith Fall off a Cliff During COVID? New Study Says No.
When the pandemic hit, many Americans lost the habit of churchgoing after almost every church in the country closed their in-person services and shifted online. But did some of them give up on God? In a new study, sociologists raise questions about the rapid decline