Most pastors are expecting one of their largest crowds on Easter, but those expectations have tempered some in the past decade.<\/p>\n
The three highest-attendance Sundays for pastors\u2014Easter, Christmas and Mother\u2019s Day\u2014have remained the same since 2011, but each is now less likely to be among the top days, according to a Lifeway Research study of U.S. Protestant pastors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile many churches consider high attendance as something from their pre-pandemic past, seasonal changes have resumed,\u201d said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. \u201cChurch attendance is predictable again with periods of consistency in the fall and early spring, as well as holiday crowds at Christmas and Easter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, 90% of pastors identify Easter as the day their church has its highest, second-highest or third-highest attendance for worship service. Four in 5 (81%) say the same for Christmas, and 51% identify Mother\u2019s Day. But fewer pastors point to high attendance on those three days compared to 2011. Easter, down from 93% to 90%, and Christmas, down from 84% to 81%, dropped three percentage points, while Mother\u2019s Day fell eight points from 59% to 51%.<\/p>\n