Church Statistics

“When you see greater religiosity, you’re more apt to have measured at the same time a more pronounced awareness of the sexual norms of Orthodox Christian communities and a person’s willingness to abide by them. The lack of institutions also promoting the church’s ethic of abstinence is one reason for the high numbers.”

“It’s true that unmarried Christian adults are more ‘at risk’ on sexual matters (attitudes, behaviors), because there are now few (and maybe no other) institutions that reinforce Christian sexual ideals today. And there are more unmarried Christian adults too. So it’s a recipe for some cultural clash over sex, for sure.”

– Mark Regenerus, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin, concurred with the findings of the 2012 study of Millennial Christians by the National Association of Evangelicals and Grey Matter Research.

– The Christian Post, Does Church Attendance Impact How Often You Have Sex? February 13, 2014 [29]

“The Church must wake up to the fact that it is not the primary influencer of many Christian young people’s sexual ethics. In fact it is porn as one force that has had a significant impact on revolutionizing mindsets toward sex.”

“I think as a Christian community we haven’t really contended with the impact of pornography, whose use and acceptance has exploded from the last generation to this generation.”

“In our culture we only have one dominant worldview and that’s the sexual worldview. The church really isn’t offering another worldview. I think our young singles in the church have been thoroughly evangelized by the culture and not been thoroughly evangelized by the church. Instead of encouraging or discouraging specific religious practices as a means to change Christian sexual behavior, the church leadership needs to talk more about pornography and examine what singleness looks like.”

“[Church leaders] are just not talking about sexuality at all, so people don’t have a sense of how it really fits in with a life of faith; the whole world is talking about sex except the church.”

– Daniel Weiss, the founder and president of The Brushfires Foundation, whose organization exists to help people discover and live out God’s design for sexuality and relationships.

– The Christian Post, Does Church Attendance Impact How Often You Have Sex? February 13, 2014 [29]

“Despite the religiosity of many Latino families (14.2 million Latino Americans consider themselves Protestant or Catholic), as they have assimilated, many children who were born and raised in the United States have taken on values more in line with mainstream American culture, rather than with the ‘traditional and overwhelmingly Catholic understanding of sex.’”

“They’re still getting [these messages] in their family homes and upbringing, but I also don’t think that the church, per se, plays such a strong role.”

– Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado, an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Miami, who has written several books about the intersection of Latinos, Latino America, and theology.

– The Christian Post, Does Church Attendance Impact How Often You Have Sex? February 13, 2014 [29]

How many Christians do you think watch porn? 1,000 adults surveyed in 2014:

64% of American men view porn at least monthly.
79% of men ages 18–30 view porn at least monthly.
67% of men ages 31–49 view porn at least monthly.
49% of men between the ages of 50 and 68 view pornography at least monthly.
55% of married men view porn at least monthly.
33% of men between the ages of 18 and 30 think they might be addicted to pornography or are unsure if they are addicted.
18% of men of all ages think they might be addicted to pornography or are unsure if they are addicted.
42% of women between the ages of 18 and 30 view porn at least monthly.

– Digital Journal, August 14, 2014 [16]

Most pastors believe pornography has adversely impacted the lives of their church members. But the shocking truth is that almost half cannot estimate what percentage of their congregations views porn.

“Most pastors know pornography’s poisonous effects. They’ve seen it destroy marriages, wreck lives and warp America’s moral compass when it comes to sexuality.”

“Large numbers of church attendees are included in the nearly half of all Internet users who visit porn sites. We were surprised that so many were unable or unwilling to estimate considering how pervasive pornography is inside the church. If a third think that less than 10 percent of the men are looking at porn and almost a half aren’t sure, we may very well have a lack of awareness of porn’s presence. The church has been given all that is needed to address sexuality from a biblical perspective.”

“Scripture clearly teaches God’s plan for sex. Yet we stumble awkwardly past the issues. If the church refuses to address the issues not only do we become irrelevant, but we leave the conversation open to others who feel free to do so.”

– Ed Stetzer, LifeWay Research President

Survey by LifeWay Research of 1,000 American Protestant pastors. When presented with the statement “Pornography has adversely affected the lives of our church members”:

Only 69% of pastors were willing to respond; 31% were unwilling or unable to respond. The results of the 69% who responded are as follows.

42% strongly agree.
27% somewhat agree.
9% somewhat disagree.
8% strongly disagree.
14% do not know or preferred not to answer.

Pastors were asked to estimate the percentage of men in their congregations who view pornography on a weekly basis. Only 57% of pastors were willing to respond; 43% were unwilling or unable to respond. The results of the 57% that responded are as follows.

62% responded to say less than 10%.
24% think the estimate is 10–24%.
10% have said 25–49%.
4% stated 50%.

The results are similar when pastors are asked about the women in their churches. Only 56% of pastors were willing to respond; 44% were unwilling or unable to respond. The results of the 56% who responded are as follows.

87% say less than 10%.
10% have said 10–24%.
3% stated 25–49%.
0% estimate 50%.

Statistics from other studies suggest that pastors are underestimating pornography’s effect on their congregations.

– Lifeway Research, Pastors Say Porn Impacts Their Churches, Many Unsure to What Degree, November 10, 2011 [44]

Survey of Christians who support gay marriage ok with porn, divorce, premarital sex, abortion: Christians who support gay marriage are seven times more likely to approve of pornography, six times more likely to approve of promiscuity, and five times more likely to approve of adultery as compared to those who don’t.

Note: Please see Table 1.

– The Global Dispatch, August 14, 2014 [17]

Christian mission’s agency is reported as saying that 80% of its applicants admit to struggles with porn.

– The Christian Post, Sexual Sin in the Ministry, March 8, 2012 [42]

From a survey of UK Christians: 75% of Christian men view porn at least monthly; 41% of Christian men admit to being addicted to pornography; 30% of church leaders view porn regularly; 10% of Christian men have paid for sex; 90% of Christians believe the church does not adequately support those struggling with porn.

– The Way, UK, January 20, 2015 [6]

Majority of Christian singles reject idea of waiting until marriage to have sex, a Christian Mingle survey of 716 Christians reveals that a majority of single Christians are rejecting biblical doctrine by choosing to have sex before they are married; 50 percent of female Christians and 39 percent of Christian males said that they went to church at least once a month.

61% of self-identified Christian singles are willing to have casual sex without being in love.
11% said they are waiting to have sex until they are married.
23% said they would have to be in love to have sex unmarried.
5% said they would wait to get engaged to have sex.
90% of them said they would be comfortable with premarital sex.

– The Christian Post, Does Church Attendance Impact How Often You Have Sex? February 13, 2014. [29]

In a 2012 study of Millennial Christians by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) and Grey Matter Research (GMR), only respondents (1,007) attending church at least once a month were considered:

44% of unmarried evangelicals between ages 18–29 said that they had sex.
25% said they had had sex in the last three months.
77% of evangelical Millennials disagree with the statement “Having sex outside of marriage is morally acceptable for an unmarried person.”
55% who were unmarried but have been sexually active in the past three months still believed that sex outside marriage is not morally acceptable.
19% felt strongly that their behavior was morally acceptable.
67% of all evangelical Millennials consider abstinence to be a realistic option.
11% agreed strongly with the statement “Abstinence is just not realistic in today’s world.”
55% who were unmarried and recently sexually active believed that abstinence was unrealistic.

Among those who read the Bible three or more times a week.

20% had been sexually active in the past three months.
60% had never had sex.

Among those who read the Bible with less frequency.

34% have been sexually active recently.
49% have never been sexually active.

Respondents said that the sexualized society is the top reason why some young, unmarried Christian adults have sex even though they believe it is morally wrong. Lacking a strong foundation in the Bible and “living for the moment” closely followed. Survey of unmarried evangelical Millennials who have been sexually active:

3 in 4 said they are committed to not having sex until married.
42% expressed strong regret.
28% somewhat had regret.
15% somewhat did not regret it.
15% strongly did not regret it.
1 out of 10 agreed strongly that they would like to remain abstinent but can’t seem to do it.
53% active in the last three months agreed with the statement.

What does the church teach today and how does it approach the problem with premarital sex?

87% agreed strongly that the church they attend teaches that sex outside of marriage is wrong.
10% agreed somewhat to the same.

The mission of the National Association of Evangelicals is to honor God by connecting and representing evangelical Christians. The NAE includes more than 45,000 local churches from 40 different denominations and serves a constituency of millions.

– Grey Matter Research & Consulting, Evangelical Millennials say sex outside of marriage is wrong, December 3, 2012 [30]

References

Please note: The number in brackets corresponds to specific statistic(s). Questions or concerns about any listed statistic may be directed to CAP at the e-mail address feedback@c-a-p.org.

[6] http://www.theway.co.uk/news-9821-over-41-of-men-in-church-are-addicted-to-porn

[16] http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/2123093

[17] http://www.theglobaldispatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Christians-support-gay-marriage-vs-other-sins-porn-adultery.png

[29] http://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-dating-culture-part-2-does-church-attendance-impact-how-often-you-have-sex-114423/

[30] http://greymatterresearch.com/index_files/Millennials_2.htm

[42] http://blogs.christianpost.com/guest-views/sexual-sin-in-the-ministry-8613/

[44] http://www.lifewayresearch.com/