Church Parking Lots Are Full, But Most People in Grand Junction Don’t Attend

There are approximately 180 churches in Grand Junction, but it would seem that most people do not attend church regularly.

Churches are a big part of any community. The relationships that are formed, the support that happens, the sense of belonging and a viable avenue for reaching out to God. Yet the numbers tells us there a huge faction of the population that is not getting involved.

Research from the Hartford Institute of Religion Research indicates that 40% of Americans say they go to church, but less than 20% actually do.

According to city-data.com, just over 28% of Grand Junction residents are affiliated with a church, which is a higher percentage than the national average. That means two-thirds of Grand Junction's population are not engaging in regular church attendance.

The LDS (Mormon) Church congregations have the biggest individual share of church attendees at 17.7%. Meanwhile, 16% of the people who attend church are Catholic.

According to city-data.com, United Methodist Churches have the third largest percentage of the church crowd at 8.5%. The Southern Baptists have the fourth highest percentage of the  church goers at 8.2% while the Assemblies of God churches boast the fifth highest congregation totals at 6.9%.  The other 42% belong to various other denominations or nondenominational congregations.

Wayne Jacobsen, a former pastor and author of the book Finding Church: What If There Really is Something More says a growing trend away from church attendance doesn't necessarily reflect a downward spiral of religion overall. He says more and more people are finding other avenues to worship yet "remain passionate in their pursuit of Jesus."

Consider this. With about 60,000 people in Grand Junction, if everyone attended church there would be enough to put 333 people in every single church in town. As it is, if the numbers presented are accurate, about 12,000 people in Grand Junction regularly attend church which averages out to about 66 people per church.

I guess the point is, it is surprising to me that the number of church goers isn't higher. If you drive by churches on Sunday morning, parking lots seem to be full.

Do you think the numbers are accurate?

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