Church in the Time of COVID-19: Findings from a National Survey (Part 3)

Aug 25

Aug 25 Church in the Time of COVID-19: Findings from a National Survey (Part 3)

In parts 1 and 2 of this series, I shared an overview of the findings from a national survey of churchgoers and the strategies being used in the churches that they attend. Today I’ll share some findings about those who were more or less anxious and what we might make of those findings. We’ll look at the region and state where the respondent lives, their age, marital status, employment status, whether they have someone at high risk living in their household, and when they were surveyed.

To begin, we know that where you live has a profound impact on how you have experienced the pandemic. In states like New York, California, and Washington, residents have experienced more restrictive economic shutdowns, while other states such as Arkansas, North Dakota, and Nebraska saw no statewide orders regarding nonessential work during March and April. One state, South Dakota, did not issue a stay-at-home order and did not require any businesses to close. Given these differences, do we see differences in anxiety about church gatherings based on geographic region?

In response to the statement, “Dealing with the social distancing, isolation, and limitations of the current COVID-19 pandemic has been very difficult for me,” respondents from New England (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut) had the lowest average score, which means they were more likely than respondents in other states to say that they disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement. Respondents living in the East North Central (Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio) and Pacific (Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii) regions had the highest scores. The data don’t show any difference in anxiety about returning to in-person groups by region. With only 62 respondents coming from the 7 states that did not issue a state-wide stay-at-home order, there are no statistically significant differences between those states and the other 43 states that issued such orders.

There has been a lot of media attention paid to age and the risk of exposure to COVID-19, so we would expect to see some differences based on age. We do see a few significant differences in how age groups responded. First, younger respondents (ages 18-29) were more likely to agree that dealing with social distancing was very difficult (an average of 3.55 on a scale of 1-5) than adults age 60 and older (2.96). Conversely, younger respondents were less satisfied with the ways that their congregation has been handling the pandemic than their older counterparts (3.6 as compared to 3.9). Interestingly, there are no significant differences in anxiety towards meeting in small groups or larger groups based on age. The other items with a significant relationship are in response to the statements, “I don’t think we need to make many special arrangements or plans for ramping up worship services again at my church… just get back to business as usual,” and, “As we make preparations for public gatherings in the future, the clearer my church can be about expectations, boundaries, and appropriate behavior the better,” younger respondents were more likely to want to get back to business as usual and less likely to feel that their church needs to be clearer about expectations.

You might also expect that people who are married or in a relationship might experience the pandemic differently than those who are single, divorced, or widowed. We found that relationship status didn’t seem to make a difference in the difficulty of dealing with social isolation, but respondents who are married said their congregation was doing a better job, and they were more likely to look forward to getting back together in both small and large group gatherings. There does not seem to be a difference in anxiety based on relationship status.

In terms of employment status, we find that there are not many significant differences in the 10 primary questions based on employment status. However, we did see a significant difference in how difficult the pandemic has been. Those who are retired were far less likely to say that social isolation has been very difficult, and those who are not working (whether due to COVID-19 or not) had the highest average.

In the survey, respondents were asked, “Are you or anyone living in your house considered at higher risk for COVID-19/coronavirus? Select all that apply,” and were given a list based on the CDC high-risk categories (over age 65, underlying medical condition, or immunocompromised). Over half of respondents lived with someone in a high-risk category. Those respondents were more likely to say that we have to find a different way to participate and that they were uncomfortable with the idea of standing in a foyer with people shaking hands and hugging. They were also more anxious about returning to both small and larger groups once the all-clear is given.

Over the last few months, a lot has changed in the way that states and local leaders have handled the pandemic. In May, when the survey was conducted, things were beginning to open in some locations and then close back down. Interestingly, I collected survey responses at two different times. The first data collection was done on May 7 and the second on May 26. While the survey wasn’t designed to be longitudinal, it works out that the second data collection time was the day after Memorial Day. When we split the data based on when the respondent took the survey, I found that those who responded on May 26 were more likely to agree that social distancing had been difficult for them. Interestingly, those surveyed on May 7 were more likely to say that they were looking forward to both small and large groups, while the May 26 group was more anxious and uncomfortable with the idea of standing in a foyer.

There is a lot that we can learn from this data, particularly as it relates to who might be on the fringes and more likely to not come back to church, as evidenced by how respondents feel their congregation is handling things. Church leaders would be wise to try to connect with members who have not been showing up in Zoom meetings or tuning into the live stream, particularly young people and those who are not married. These groups are already likely to feel less welcomed in their congregation because of a focus on family units. For more on how church leaders can use this information check out the conversation I had with Carson Reed and Randy Harris on the Intersection webinar.

In the fourth and final installment of this series, I’ll look at some open-ended responses from church members and ask where we go from here.