Would embracing organized youth sports help?
Nearly 1 in 3 Americans told Gallup they rarely or never attended religious services in 2012. And many pastors blame the secularization of Sundays, led by a commonly perceived culprit: children's sports.
That's what Steve McMullin found after the Acadia Divinity College professor interviewed church leaders and members at shrinking congregations. His study, published in the Review of Religious Research, showed that pastors most often identified "competing Sunday activities"—led by youth athletic events—as the primary reason for declining worship attendance.
The sentiment echoes the 2008 Faith Communities Today survey. On its list of "obstacles making it difficult for people to regularly participate in [a] congregation," pastors cited driving distance, conflicts with work schedules, and fear of crime (among other reasons).
But children's school and sports activities proved to be "by far the greatest obstacle." This held true for rural, suburban, and urban churches alike. Keep reading
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