More people attending church than before pandemic

Churches are seeing twice as many people commit to following Jesus than in 2021, the Evangelical Alliance's new Changing Church survey reveals.

Changing Church 2025, released this May, explores the state of the UK evangelical Church five years on from the Covid pandemic. Surveying 305 church leaders and 977 individuals, and hearing stories from evangelical churches of every size, shape and flavour, it reveals that something seemingly different is happening: people are exploring faith and finding Jesus.

Key findings from the research:

• Churches reported an average increase in attendance of 13% since January 2020 (before the Covid pandemic).
• Churches reported twice as many people making first-time commitments to follow Jesus as when surveyed in 2021.
• Volunteers in the average church contribute nearly £250,000 worth of time each year. 
• While most churches have seen an increase in giving income, for only one in five churches is this enough to keep pace with inflation.
• Wellbeing of church leaders has improved since 2021, the key challenges leaders identified in their work related to leadership, staff and volunteers remain. 

The report also reveals that while overall numbers of people in pews has increased, the frequency with which they come to church has decreased. Seventy-eight per cent of individual respondents reported attending weekly in-person in early 2025, compared with just over 90% in early 2020.

Danny Webster, head of advocacy and research lead at the Evangelical Alliance (EA), said: “The research demonstrates that churches have changed since they were forced to close in the pandemic. For larger churches, they are growing and smaller churches are struggling - but churches of all sizes are seeing people join them.  

“While we found that habits of engaging with churches and church activities had changed, (for example, people attend slightly less frequently), in most areas, church life has bounced back since the Covid shutdown.  

“One key trend identified in the research is the different experience for large and small churches; this has an inevitable knock-on effect, so smaller churches are more likely to report struggles with income and volunteering.”

Gavin Calver, CEO of Evangelical Alliance, said of the research: “The last five years have changed the evangelical church in the UK. What I’m seeing as I travel around the country is churches that are growing as they confidently share the hope of Jesus, and a general openness to faith, which is reflected in our new Changing Church report.”