Christmas lights at The Church of Jesus Christ’s Convention Middle in Salt Lake Metropolis are pictured on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022. Scott G Winterton, Deseret Information
The winter is a busy time for Protestant church buildings, since they mark the Christmas season with particular concert events, youngsters’ applications and group service occasions.
However when Christmas Day really arrives, these similar homes of worship can really feel like ghost cities, in line with a brand new survey from Lifeway Analysis.
“Few see their largest crowds on Christmas Day,” researchers reported, noting that simply 7% of U.S. Protestant pastors stated they see the very best vacation season attendance on Dec. 25.
Church buildings’ busiest service usually comes sooner or later earlier on Christmas Eve, Lifeway Analysis discovered. That’s when households typically make it a precedence to return collectively at worship.
“Household and church traditions are almost certainly to coincide for Christmas Eve providers,” stated Scott McConnell, government director of Lifeway Analysis, in a press launch.
Just below half of Protestant pastors within the U.S. (48%) stated they see the very best vacation season attendance on Christmas Eve.
“Few U.S. Protestant pastors level to an occasion the primary week of December or earlier (6%) or a service through the second week (10%) as their most well-attended. Round 1 / 4 (26%) say an occasion through the third week of the month is high,” the survey confirmed.
Lifeway Analysis didn't ask pastors about how attendance numbers have shifted in recent times, as involvement in non secular communities has grow to be much less widespread. However earlier surveys have proven that round half of People proceed to combine non secular providers into their vacation plans.
“Fifty-five p.c of U.S. adults say they have fun Christmas as a non secular vacation, together with 46% who see it as extra of a non secular vacation than a cultural vacation and 9% who have fun Christmas as each a non secular and a cultural event,” Pew Analysis Middle reported in 2017.
Regardless of People’ enduring curiosity in attending church in some unspecified time in the future through the Christmas season, it’s nonetheless not the busiest time of yr for pastors, in line with Lifeway Analysis knowledge from 2012. That earlier survey confirmed Easter is definitely the very best attendance time of yr.
Contemporary off the press
How religion leaders reacted to Senate passage of same-sex marriage protections
I appeared on the newest version of the “Religion Angle” podcast to interview the Rev. Russell Levenson about his new e-book on the non secular lives of George H.W. and Barbara Bush.
Time period of the week: Grasp of divinity
A grasp of divinity diploma is a graduate diploma that’s historically sought by college students looking for to be ordained and grow to be full-time ministers. This system usually takes three years to finish.
The newest knowledge from The Affiliation of Theological Faculties reveals that curiosity in these divinity levels is steadily declining, in line with Faith Information Service.
“The projected enrollment for fall 2022 is 28,000 grasp of divinity college students, a 4% lower from fall 2021 and 9% decline since fall 2018,” the article stated.
What I’m studying ...
The Senate’s vote final week on the Respect for Marriage Act led researcher Dan Cox to revisit public opinion knowledge on same-sex marriage. In his American Storylines e-newsletter, he defined a key means wherein the numbers have shifted previously 20 years: “At one time, the division over same-sex marriage was largely one between non secular and nonreligious People, however in the present day the hole is between probably the most energetic non secular People and everybody else.” A latest ballot discovered that simply 40% of People who attend church not less than as soon as per week favor permitting homosexual and lesbian couples to marry, in comparison with 71% of U.S. adults general.
The Rev. Elizabeth Felicetti, an Episcopal priest in Richmond, Virginia, is within the midst of a singular undertaking: She’s serving to a person imprisoned for arson and second-degree homicide grow to be a priest. The Rev. Felicetti wrote in regards to the expertise for The Christian Century.
Final week, Pew Analysis Middle launched its newest have a look at international restrictions on non secular follow, which focuses on what occurred world wide in 2020. The report reveals that round one-quarter of nations used power to forestall religion teams from assembly in-person through the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and likewise that religion teams in round one-third of nations overtly defied gathering guidelines.
Odds and ends
Since writing a couple of new Christmas album put collectively by three offensive linemen for the Philadelphia Eagles, I can’t cease listening to their tackle “White Christmas.” Please hear!
Right here’s a listing that’s excellent for folks like me, who love faith and sports activities: 5 new books on Christianity and sports activities.
And at last, right here’s a particular reward information for my Utah readers: 11 Utah-themed items to get your out-of-state family members.