Why I Don’t Go To Church

1. Too many hypocrites 
2. It’s boring
3. I don’t belong there
4. They just want my money

Gen Z: Born between 1999 and 2015

Millennial: Born between 1984 and 1998

Gen X: Born between 1965 and 1983

Boomer: Born between 1946 and 1964

Elder: Born before 1946

“Because you have these blessings, do all you can to add to your life these things: to your faith add goodness; to your goodness add knowledge; to your knowledge add self-control; to your self-control add patience; to your patience add devotion to God; to your devotion add kindness toward your brothers and sisters in Christ, and to this kindness add love. If all these things are in you and growing, you will never fail to be useful to God. You will produce the kind of fruit that should come from your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭1:5-8‬ ‭ERV‬‬

1. Nearly two in five churchgoers report regularly attending multiple churches.

Declining church loyalty—or what is sometimes referred to as “church hopping”—is becoming a common feature of churchgoing. Just because somebody might attend church doesn’t mean they attend the same church every time. While a majority of churchgoers does tend to stick with a single congregation (63% churched adults, 72% practicing Christians), a sizable minority is at least occasionally attending other churches, including nearly two in five churched adults (38%) and one-quarter of practicing Christians (27%).

2. Churchgoers are divided on the value of church.

Another element of the churchgoing landscape is the paradoxical perceptions that churchgoers hold of church itself. Kinnaman observes, “Those who frequent worship services do so largely because of personal enjoyment, but many churchgoers also readily admit that they believe people are tired of church as usual.”

On the positive side of the ledger, two-thirds of churched adults say they attend church because they “enjoy doing it” (65%); the same is true for four in five practicing Christians (82%). Still, it’s worth noting that one in six churchgoers (17%) says they attend because they “have to” and one in seven (15%) says they do so “out of habit.” 

While most churchgoers attribute positive feelings to their participation in church, half of Christians agree that “church as usual” is declining in popularity. Or, at least, churchgoers perceive that other people feel this way.

Currently, about half of Christians (48% self-identified Christians, 45% practicing Christians) and more than half of churched adults overall (57% of U.S. adults who have attended in the last six months) admit that people they know are tired of the usual type of church experience. While you might think that some groups of Christians are more likely than others to feel this way, data show no significant difference across denomination, generation or faith segment.

3. Churchgoers largely experience—and have come to expect—positive emotions and outcomes by going to church.

Overall, churched adults say they leave worship services feeling inspired (37%), encouraged (37%), forgiven (34%), as though they have connected with God or experienced his presence (33%) and challenged to change something in their life (26%), every time. A plurality of churched adults also express always feeling like attending service was the most important experience they had all week (29%) and that they learned something new (28%).

Even so, 32 percent of churched adults say they feel disappointed by the experience at least half of the time and another 40 percent leave feeling guilty. Kinnaman notes, “In survey research, people tend to under-report negative experiences. As researchers, we have to amplify the times when they have the courage to report these kinds of disappointing experiences, and acknowledge there may be other ways a worship community has let them down, beyond those listed here.”

These findings ultimately reveal that attendees encounter and even anticipate a range of emotional connectivity during worship services—which can further complicate the job of those behind the pulpit. Kinnaman states, “We must emphasize the reality that, week in and week out, today’s church leaders are tasked with meeting a diverse set of emotional expectations.”

**Barna Research**