Weekly churchgoers more likely to embrace biblical truths than those who attend less often: poll

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Sunday, March 29, 2026

New research shows that frequent churchgoers are more likely to embrace views in line with biblical teaching than their counterparts who attend church less frequently. 

Lifeway Research released new data based on responses collected from 3,001 American Protestant churchgoers from Jan. 6-15, 2025, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9% at the 95% confidence level. 

The survey asked both frequent churchgoers and infrequent churchgoers whether they agreed with a series of statements that either aligned with or contradicted Christian teaching.

Infrequent churchgoers were defined as those who attend church services once or twice a month, while frequent churchgoers were those who attend weekly. 

When asked if they thought that “Biblical accounts of the physical (bodily) resurrection of Jesus are completely accurate” and that “This event actually occurred,” 85% of frequent churchgoers strongly agreed compared to just 64% of infrequent churchgoers.

Sixty-one percent of frequent churchgoers strongly disagreed that “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God,” as opposed to only 37% of infrequent churchgoers. 

“This relationship between lack of attendance and theological positions should sound an alarm among church leaders and dedicated Christians,” said Daniel Price, a statistician at Lifeway Research, in a statement. “Increasing attendance alone will not guarantee an improvement in the acceptance of theological positions.”

A significantly higher share of frequent churchgoers (84%) strongly agreed that “God created marriage as a union between one man and one woman” than their counterparts who attend church less frequently (68%). At the same time, 64% of frequent churchgoers strongly disagreed that “The Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true.” By contrast, only 37% of infrequent churchgoers said the same.

More than two-thirds of frequent churchgoers (68%) strongly agreed that “sex outside of traditional marriage is a sin,” as did 42% of infrequent churchgoers. A clear majority of frequent churchgoers (61%) strongly agreed that “abortion is a sin,” while less than half of infrequent churchgoers (38%) replied the same. 

Seventy-one percent of frequent churchgoers strongly disagreed that “People should be able to choose their gender regardless of their biological sex,” along with a narrow majority (51%) of infrequent churchgoers. A supermajority (67%) of frequent churchgoers strongly disagreed that “the Bible’s condemnation of homosexual behavior doesn’t apply today.” Only 41% of infrequent churchgoers strongly disagreed with the statement.

“Christians should be continually reaching out to those who are infrequent attendees in the hopes of increasing their theological knowledge and understanding of God’s Word," Price said.

Scott McConnell, CEO of Lifeway Research, said some of the "widest differences" between infrequent and weekly church attendees are found "in the strength of responses to the accuracy and authority of Scripture."

“Worship services typically include proclamation of the Word of God and uniting in songs and readings drawn from the Word of God. So one way to encourage attendance is explaining the Bible’s importance and encouraging its prioritization," McConnell said.