More 'non-denominational' US Christians

New research conducted by the General Social Survey, which records social trends in the United States, has shown a significant increase in US Christians who identify as non-denominational.

While less than three per cent of Christians in the US identified as non-denominational in 1972, almost 40 million people place themselves in that category today. Although the Baptist denomination remains the largest Protestant group, non-denominational Christians are now the second largest grouping in Protestant Christianity with an estimated 40,000 churches across the US.

This shift in American Christianity has developed rapidly in the last several years with 6.5 million more people attending non-denominational churches in 2020 than a decade before.

Another trend is the increase in young people now attending church. According to Christian polling company Barna Group, only 21 per cent of US Millennials attended church in 2019. Since then, their attendance has almost doubled.

And non-denominational churches are particularly attractive to the younger generation, says church marketing group REACHRIGHT, citing various reasons including disillusionment with church politics and the desire for churches where community and practical faith are higher on the agenda than denominational characteristics.