Study: Parenthood Does Not Make for Active Churchgoers
A new study debunks the common assumption that once a couple hits parenthood, they'll put Sunday church services back on their calendar.
(Photo: AP Images / Pablo Martinez Monsivais)Hazel Lilly, right, walks with her 14 month-old granddaughter London Jackson, left, outside Allen Chapel AME Church in Washington, Sunday, April 4, 2010.
While children do act as a catalyst for millions of parents to return to the pews or become more active in the church, it is not the normative experience.
According to the Barna Group, half of parents in the U.S. said having children did not influence their connection to a church or change their involvement. And among parents who are Christian, 47 percent said the presence of children was unrelated to their church life.
Only 17 percent of parents said having a child helped them reconnect with church after a long period of not attending.
New commitments were even rarer. Only 5 percent said becoming parents helped them become active in a church for the first time
"Many religious workers assume that parenthood motivates people to return to their spiritual traditions and to church attendance," said David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group. "This perspective is especially common when it comes to justifying the frequent disengagement among young adults. Sometimes faith leaders go so far as to simply wait for parenthood to occur, when they figure the 'real work' of ministry can begin."
But he noted that more young women are delaying having children. Thus, it is important to help shape young people's beliefs and habits before they become parents, he said.
"Parenthood might help to clarify and enhance people's pursuit of spirituality, but usually it does not fundamentally alter a parent's spiritual trajectory. Getting people to transition from church involvement based upon religious inertia to activity driven by a sense of engagement is exceedingly difficult – and relatively rare."
According to the study, only 20 percent of parents said they were already active and became even more involved in church after having children.
Meanwhile, 4 percent became less involved in church.
Younger parents – under the age of 35 – were more likely than average to say parenthood helped them return to church. And parents with children under the age of five were more likely than average to say that they reconnected with church. Parents of teens were likely to say that having children had no impact on them.
Notably, attendees of large churches were more likely than were those attending smaller congregations to increase their level of church involvement. The Barna Group speculates larger churches may be more attentive to the needs of families.
Findings are based on a nationwide tracking study, called OmniPoll. Telephone interviews were conducted on a random sample of 670 parents, age 18 and older, from across the U.S., Jan. 26-Feb. 10.
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