Recent figures on the state of the church in Australia:
Australia has a population of around 28 million people. Of those, just 1.3 million attend church weekly, or 4.6 per cent of the population. Compare this with American church attendance, with around 20 per cent of its 347 million people attending church weekly.
If you have been a regular churchgoer in Australia, you might recall filling in surveys for the National Church Life Survey (NCLS) over the years. Their newest report was released a few months ago: “Church Pulse Check 2021 to 2024”. It is always interesting to see what sort of figures they have come up with. The 28-page report offers this summary of 12 key findings:
#1 – In 2024, 1.3 million Australians attended church weekly. Attendance has largely recovered since COVID-19.
#2 – NSW & ACT had the largest number of weekly church attenders in 2024.
#3 – The Catholic Church had the highest number of attenders (44% of the weekly total).
#4 – Denominations have recovered to differing degrees since COVID-19.
#5 – Attendance in Protestant churches as a whole has been largely stable since 1991.
#6 – Pentecostal churches have had the greatest percentage growth in attendance since 1991.
#7 – The five biggest denominations have changed order.
#8 – The estimated number of faith commitments rose between 2021 and 2024.
#9 – The Catholic Church had the largest number of faith commitments across denominations.
#10 – There were around 10,600 local churches across Australia in 2024.
#11 – Most local churches were part of Mainstream Protestant denominations.
#12 – The Anglican Church had the highest number of local churches in 2024.
Let me look in a bit more detail at some of these findings. On point 7, they say this:
The five largest denominations accounted for over 80% of all church attenders in 2001 and in 2024. They were the Anglican Church, Australian Christian Churches, the Baptist Church, the Catholic Church, and the Uniting Church. In 2001 each of these denominations had 120,000 or more people attending their churches in an average week. Among Anglican and Protestant denominations, there have been significant shifts in the past few decades.
Australian Christian Churches (ACC, previously Assemblies of God) is the largest Pentecostal movement in Australia. When located in the context of all denominations, they moved from being the fifth largest denomination in 2001 to second largest in 2016 and continued to hold this position in 2024.
The Anglican Church moved from having the second largest weekly attendance in 2001 to being third in 2016 and fourth in 2024. The Baptist Church moved from having the fourth largest attendance in 2001 and 2016 to third largest in 2024, changing ranking with the Anglican Church. The Uniting Church, formed in 1977 from Methodist, Congregational and Presbyterian churches, was the third largest denomination in 2001. By 2016 and 2024 they had moved to fifth place.
As to the number of churches, we find this: “Fewer local churches since 2016: In 2021, the estimated number of local churches was around 10,600. This is 800 fewer than the number estimated across all participating denominations in 2016, which was 11,400.”
Five personal reflections
Let me offer some of my own thoughts on these findings.
One. With record high immigration rates under the current Labor government, and so many of them being Muslims or those of other non-Christian backgrounds, it is not surprising to see Christians in general and church attendance in particular in decline in terms of the overall population.
Labor is intent on importing voters. Their own primary vote has been quite low in recent elections, with just a third of all votes. Importing so many people into the country who will likely return the favour by voting Labor is one easy way of ensuring that Labor stays in office.
Two. Obviously assessing Christianity in a nation entails more than just looking at church attendance. And we have things like the national census which also tries to measure religion in Australia. In recent surveys they have featured the category “No religion.”
That of course can be quite misleading. Atheists for example happily claim them all. But many in that camp would be spiritual in various ways, as in those with New Age beliefs. And it can be said that we are ALL religious: we all have something that we put as our highest good, and so on. Even secular humanism has rightly been described as a religion.
Three. And as I have discussed before, there is a very large cohort of those who are Christians, who love the Lord, and are most certainly part of the Body of Christ, but for various reasons are not going to church on a regular basis. My most viewed, shared and commented on article ever looks at this in more detail: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2014/12/26/on-leaving-church/
Four. Of course the Covid years meant that the churches – like most other institutions – had to look at new ways of doing church – or at least of holding church services. Online services became the norm back then. While Australian church attendance is getting back to where it was before Covid, there would be so many believers still using various online Christian alternatives to actually going to a church building.
Five. As has been known for quite some time now, Christianity in the West is in decline. So many countries that were once majority Christian are now minority Christian. Secularism and the importation of those of other faiths is changing religious demographics in the West.
But the good news is, God is not finished with his church. It is places like Africa, Asia and Latin America where we find the greatest church growth and an increase in the numbers of believers. And often Christians from these areas are coming back to re-evangelise the West! So God is still at work in this world.
In the New Testament, once the New Covenant comes into effect, following the Last Supper and the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, you will not find one saint operating as a Lone Ranger. In addition, in the letters of Paul and the others, we are admonished to stay with the body of believers. This is not only for what we get out of church, but for what we put in, in the form of praying with and for the others, encouraging those who need encouragement, and most of all, worshipping with the crowd of saints. We are called to be obedient, even when it is difficult. That is the Christian life.
I didn’t do the survey. I wonder how many other regular churchgoers were missed.
Nice illustration, Bill. My kinda place.
Is there any age distribution data available? I don’t attend church much anymore but recently attended a regular Sunday service at my local Anglican church. I was shocked to observe that most of the parishioners looked over 70 (as am I) and majority female. Similar observation at a recent meeting of my local Liberal Party branch, except they were mainly old men.
The Anglican folk I spoke to were worried that their church might have to close because of insufficient income.
Maybe the young people have all gone to Pentecostal churches, but you don’t hear much about the happy clappers these days. I think the collapse of Hillsong has been a factor.
Seems to me the church is in big trouble if it can’t attract the younger generation.
Thanks Eric. The brief report does not seem to deal with stats on age and the like.
In the New Testament, once the New Covenant comes into effect, following the Last Supper and the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, you will not find one saint operating as a Lone Ranger. In addition, in the letters of Paul and the others, we are admonished to stay with the body of believers. This is not only for what we get out of church, but for what we put in, in the form of praying with and for the others, encouraging those who need encouragement, and most of all, worshipping with the crowd of saints. We are called to be obedient, even when it is difficult. That is the Christian life.
I didn’t do the survey. I wonder how many other regular churchgoers were missed.
Nice illustration, Bill. My kinda place.
Is there any age distribution data available? I don’t attend church much anymore but recently attended a regular Sunday service at my local Anglican church. I was shocked to observe that most of the parishioners looked over 70 (as am I) and majority female. Similar observation at a recent meeting of my local Liberal Party branch, except they were mainly old men.
The Anglican folk I spoke to were worried that their church might have to close because of insufficient income.
Maybe the young people have all gone to Pentecostal churches, but you don’t hear much about the happy clappers these days. I think the collapse of Hillsong has been a factor.
Seems to me the church is in big trouble if it can’t attract the younger generation.
Thanks Eric. The brief report does not seem to deal with stats on age and the like.