PEORIA MAGAZINE October 2023

COVER STORY

THE RISE OF THE ‘VIRTUAL CHURCH’ Church attendance still suffers the lingering effects of COVID, more congregants watch services online, and the young are absent

BY MICHAEL MILLER

T he pews aren’t empty yet. pre-pandemic decline in many cases, while holding steady in others. Two local churches reported that attendance is on the upswing. Nationally, a June Gallup poll found that in the period from 2020 to the present, an average of 30% of U.S. adults said they had attended a house of wor Peoria-area religious lead ers report that worship at tendance has continued its

ship in the previous seven days, down from 34% from 2016-2019. Locally, all that’s available is anecdot al evidence — several faith communities didn’t return calls or emails — and the results are mixed. Retired Bradley University religion professor Robert Fuller said that he notices on his Sunday morning walks through different city neighborhoods that attendance generally is down. And while Catholic and Protestant atten

dance has dropped at about the same rate over the past couple decades, the decline at mainline Protestant churches such as United Methodist, Presbyterian Church USA, United Church of Christ, and Episcopal congregations “has been perilous,” Fuller said. THERE, BUT NOT THERE The Rev. Ann Schwartz, lead presby ter of the Peoria-based Presbytery of Great Rivers, confirmed the attendance

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