Canadian Church-Goers on the Rise
According to one of Canada’s “best-known pollsters on religion,” Canadians – both young and old, protestant and catholic, are retuning to the Sunday pews.
According to one of Canada’s “best-known pollsters on religion,” Canadians – both young and old, protestant and catholic, are retuning to the Sunday pews.
Compared to the late 1990s, attendance is up by “four or five percentage points,” said Reginald Bibby, a University of Lethbridge sociologist who recently published his findings in a new book.
In his book, entitled, Restless Churches, Bibby says the growth is “fairly modest,” but is “consistent.”
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Lots of people are hurting, struggling to find meaning and worried about their kids, said Bibby, to the Canadian Press. "People are saying, 'Well you know, jeez, I'd like my kids to turn out OK. If they can find meaning in a church, "that makes people feel good about the organization."
According to the survey, which was completed in 2003, 26 percent of Canadians said they attended religious services every week – five percent higher than a similar poll taken in 2000. Also, about 40 percent of those polls said they just needed a good reason to get involved in Church.
Bibby said the trend shows religious groups have been “doing a better job of ministering to younger people.”
“For instance, the churches are moving away from spectator-style services to participatory worship, adding day-care facilities and producing more visually driven materials for Sunday schools,” he said to the Canadian Press.
In general, Bibby said Protestant attendance has not slipped in 25 years; mainline churches in the US, in comparison, have been losing congregants since the 1960s.
This one in four level of involvement in church is “higher than the numbers for any other group activity in the country,” Bibby added.
“That's five million people, plus lots of children,” he said, “which surpasses such things as a Grey Cup or Super Bowl TV audience.”
