More Protestant Churches Closed Than Opened Before Pandemic, Study Shows

More Protestant churches closed than opened in 2019, a trend that is expected to continue amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which greatly restricted church activity and religious services.

The new LifeWay Research survey, which analyzed church data from across 34 Protestant denominations, found that around 3,000 churches started in 2019, while some 4,500 Protestant congregations closed.

Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research, said that, even prior to the pandemic, “the pace of opening new congregations was not even providing enough replacements for those that closed their doors.”

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This is a marked shift from the last time LifeWay compiled similar data in 2014 when there were about 4,000 churches planted and 3,700 closed.

Some of the change, though, can be credited to denominations working to revitalize congregations rather than closing old churches and launching new ones.

“Over the last decade, most denominations have increased the attention they are giving to revive existing congregations that are struggling,” McConnell said. “This has been more than a fad. This has been a response to a real, growing need to revitalize unhealthy congregations.”

Others, like author and church planter Daniel Im, have suggested there is “a growing hesitancy to plant” churches, so the concerning trend isn’t a surprise.

“Starting a church from scratch is not as it used to be,” Im said, “especially with the rise of Boomer pastors retiring and needing to find a successor.”

Ed Stetzer, who has been part of several church plants and serves as executive director of Wheaton College’s Billy Graham Center, said it’s clear “church planting is slowing, and the number of closures is growing.”

“Yet,” he added, “the opportunity is still before us — people are searching spiritually, and the Gospel is the answer.”

For context, there are somewhere between 320,000 and 350,000 Protestant congregations across the U.S., according to the Religion News Service. So the number of closures in 2019 represents a loss of 1.4%.

Regardless, McConnell said, there is still “a need for new churches to share the Gospel with everyone.”

This study comes on the heels of new data suggesting only 6% of American adults hold to a truly “biblical worldview.”

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said every Christian “can and should obtain a biblical worldview, which is only achieved when a person believes that the Bible is true, authoritative, and then taught how it is applicable to every area of life, which enables them to live out those beliefs.”