Ventura, (CA): A new nationwide survey provides some statistical support for that notion, showing that adults who regularly attended church as children are much more likely than their unchurched peers to be involved in church-based and personal spiritual activities.

• Roughly seven out of ten Americans adults (71%) had a period of time during their childhood when they regularly attended a Christian church.
• Apparently, old habits die hard: a majority of those who attended church as a youngster still attend regularly today (61%),
• A large majority of those who were not church-goers as children are still absent from churches today (78%).

Young Adults Avoiding Church
Church attendance is declining by generation, regardless of childhood church experience. 

• The decline is steeper among adults who did not go to church as a child.
• Among adults 55 and older who attended church regularly as a child, two-thirds still attend regularly (68%).
• That proportion drops to just half of adults under 35 who were churched when young (53%).
• However, among adults who now attend a Christian church even though they did not do so as a youngster, more than one-third of the 35-and-over segment presently attends a Christian church, compared to only 16% among those under 35 years of age.

Protestant or Catholic congregations that claims less than 100 adults, one-third of the unchurched-as-a-child group does so. People under 35 and women were among those most inclined to attend such congregations.

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