Investigating church attendance and the religious middle

If you are a Christian, how often do you go to church? Do you go weekly? Once a month? Or maybe only on Christmas and Easter?

If you are in the latter group, you are not alone. That has become normal for a growing number of churchgoers in Canada, especially in the Anglican Church of Canada.

That’s what Sarah Kathleen Johnson found when she did research on attendance patterns of members of that church. She shares her findings in her new book, Occasional Religious Practice: Valuing a Very Ordinary Religious Experience (Oxford University Press).

For Johnson, a professor of liturgy and pastoral theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, interest in the topic was sparked by her own experience of attending an Anglican church in Toronto. During Christmas services, the church was packed. The following Sundays, the sanctuary was nearly empty.

Until then, Johnson had not paid much attention to that phenomenon. But seeing the contrast made her wonder how widespread and common it was for Anglicans.

Very common, as it turns out.

Through interviews, research and her own observations, Johnson concludes that occasional attendance is now normal in many Anglican parishes.

“Routine attendance patterns have changed,” Johnson said, noting there was a time in the past when weekly churchgoing was more the norm.

But today, most Anglicans attend church only on holidays like Christmas and Easter or for life transitions such as funerals, weddings or the baptism of someone’s child.

And not just Anglicans; Johnson suspects that may be the dominant way many Christians go to church in Canada today. This is supported by research by Statistics Canada, which found that 25 per cent of Canadians who attend church services said it was their practice to go either monthly or between one to three times a year. Thirteen per cent said they went once a week.

Johnson’s findings are also supported by Neil Elliot, statistics and research officer for the Anglican Church of Canada. In his most recent report to the 2025 General Synod, he noted that attendance for Easter services was up 41 per cent and Christmas was up 51 per cent.

As for Sunday attendance, that continues to “decline steadily with no bounce back,” he said, dropping by a third since 2017. Or, as he put it, “it appears people are coming back to festival services, but not to regular Sunday worship.”

What especially intrigued Johnson about this large group of people who attend occasionally was the lack of information about them. She found many books about the very religious who attend services often and also many about non-religious people who never go at all. “But there wasn’t much on the religious middle,” she said.

Through her research, Johnson found these occasional attenders are quite content with their current practice. “They don’t feel the need to go more often,” she said.

As for why they feel that way, Johnson said it wasn’t because they are anti-religion; they just didn’t feel going to church was necessary anymore. And when they did go, it was usually because of tradition or family — Grandma wants the family together at church on Christmas Eve.

One thing Johnson wants to emphasize is that occasional church attendance isn’t a new thing; it’s been happening for a long time. In fact, it was over 25 years ago that sociologist of religion Reg Bibby coined the term “monthly plus” to describe how many churchgoers were considering what constituted regular attendance — no longer as weekly, but as once or twice a month.

And not only that, the earliest Christians experienced it, as can be seen in the book of Hebrews. In Chapter 10 Verse 5, the author writes that believers should not be “neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.” And it also was on the minds of church leaders in the fourth and fifth centuries, when they complained about people not going to church on a weekly basis.

Understandably, clergy and denominational leaders would prefer to see churches full every Sunday. But Johnson said they should avoid preaching against the practice at times when the church is full. “It will be hard to convert these people into intensive churchgoing,” she said.

She thinks it would be better for clergy to accept this as normal and then view Christmas, Easter, weddings and funerals as a way to engage occasional attenders through what she called “tender, pastoral moments.”

Clergy can also shift their thinking about what it means to be part of a church, she said; people may feel part of its mission through volunteering, helping during a disaster, visiting with neighbours or in other ways that don’t involve being at worship services.

At the same time, it’s important to not think God only engages people at religious services. “I assume that the Spirit is at work within and beyond the formal and informal institutions of the Church,” Johnson said. “God is active in the lives of people, including occasional practitioners, in ways that are known, unknown, and unknowable to theologians and social scientists.”

faith@freepress.mb.ca

The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba. If you appreciate that coverage, help us do more! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow us to deepen our reporting about faith in the province. Thanks! BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER