According to the recently released Faith Communities Today study, half of the congregations in the United States have 65 people or fewer, while two-thirds of congregations have fewer than 100.
That’s a marked change from two decades earlier, when the 2000 Faith Communities Today survey found the median congregation had 137 people and less than half of congregations had fewer than 100 people.
Quoting from the study: “Shrinking attendance figures coupled with an increase in the number and percent of small congregations obviously indicates that a good many congregations are not growing. Indeed, the median rate of change between 2015 and 2020 was a negative 7 percent,” meaning half of all congregations declined in attendance by at least 7 percent.
While most congregations are small, most worshippers attend a larger congregation. Another prominent report, the National Congregations Study, found that while the average congregation is about 70 people — the majority of churchgoers are worshipping in a congregation of about 400 people.
The report reflects the reality that religious Americans are being sorted into two kinds of churches — megachurches, and minichurches.
Lisa McDougal, who attends Cornerstone Church of Spring Green, Wisconsin, a congregation of about 50, said she appreciates being part of a small church where relationships matter more than the spectacle of a Sunday morning.