This post originally appeared at https://wifamilycouncil.org/radio/resurrecting-church-attendance-this-easter/
2025 | Week of April 14 | Radio Transcript #1614
This Sunday, many churches in America will experience their highest attendance of the year. Although regular church attendance has steadily declined to all-time lows, many families will still make the effort to dress up in springtime colors and attend Easter services. Sadly, for many families, Easter and Christmas will be the only church services that they attend this entire year.
Over the past two decades, weekly church attendance in America has dropped from thirty-two percent to twenty percent.[1] Sadly, many families prioritize sports tournaments, online services, and the chance to sleep in over faithful church attendance.
While online services provide a wonderful opportunity for worship for shut-ins and the sick, they cannot replace in-person fellowship and worship. It’s a lot easier to watch church from your sofa than it is to get up, get ready, and physically go to church.
Yet, as families walk away from church, they walk away from one of the greatest determiners of a family’s spiritual health. The effects of church attendance begin at the foundation of family: marriage. Studies show that regular church attenders are more likely to marry and less likely to divorce.[2] In addition to the familial and societal benefits of strong marriages, regular church attendance also benefits children.
A recent Harvard study[3] compared the outcomes of students who were enrolled in religious schools to children who regularly attended religious services. The study found that “kids who grew up attending church regularly rated far higher in overall well-being as young adults than those who went to a religious school but did not go to religious services during their formative years.”
While a Christian school is a wonderful opportunity for instilling and strengthening faith during a child’s formative years, the benefits of Christian school attendance do not replace the need for regular family worship at church. The lead researcher of the study summarized, “Regular service attendance helps shield children from the ‘big three’ dangers of adolescence: depression, substance abuse, and premature sexual activity. People who attended church as children are also more likely to grow up happy, to be forgiving, to have a sense of mission and purpose, and to volunteer.”
Church attendance is a crucial part of raising a healthy Christian family. Quite frankly, when parents don’t faithfully attend church with their children, they’re leaving them to be influenced by a world that has lost its moral sense. Parents who push church attendance to the back burner risk the health of their marriage and the likelihood of their children becoming lifelong followers of Jesus Christ.
Easter Sunday—Resurrection Sunday—provides the perfect opportunity for families to get back into the swing of regular church attendance. Celebrating the wonder, hope, and joy of Christ’s resurrection reminds us of our continual need for spiritual refreshment and encouragement. The message of Christ’s work on the cross is not just for Easter but for every day of the year. Easter reminds us that we have eternal hope in Christ, that we can have victory over sin, and that no power can hinder God’s plan. Why would we want to only hear that message once or twice a year?
A missionary recently reminded me of the great risks that Christians in persecuted nations willingly take to worship together. Some meet in the desert or carefully plan secret meetings in homes of church members. These persecuted Christians dream of the opportunity to sing praises and hear the Word of God preached without fear of capture. In America, we can sing and preach the Gospel every Sunday without fear of imprisonment, beatings, or death. These persecuted Christians take Hebrew’s command to not forsake the assembling of believers seriously. They could legitimately make excuses, instead they risk everything to worship Christ together. What’s our excuse?
This Easter, make your family’s participation in the worldwide celebration of Christ’s resurrection a priority. Refuse to let family gatherings, secular traditions, or the desire to sleep in keep you from experiencing the joy of celebrating corporately and collectively the greatest event in human history.
And don’t stop after Easter. Make regular church attendance a priority from this day forward. Regardless of the time of year, every Sunday is an opportunity to join with other believers in worship while reflecting on Christ’s resurrection and to experience its transforming power in your life and in your family.
For Wisconsin Family Council, this is Julaine Appling, wishing you and yours a truly blessed Easter season and reminding you that God, through the prophet Hosea, said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
[1] https://pushpay.com/blog/easter-church-attendance-statistics/
[2] https://ifstudies.org/blog/regular-church-attenders-marry-more-and-divorce-less-than-their-less-devout-peers
[3] https://cckc.church/what-harvard-discovered-about-kids-and-church/
Sierra John