Church closure opinion poll

We commissioned Whitestone Insight to interview 2,667 UK adult Christians online between 12 and 20 June 2024, asking about how they would respond to the closure of their local church. The results show the significant impact that church closures have on worshipping communities.  

Read a summary of the findings

The opinion poll indicated that in-person church attendance can fall by almost a third (29%) if a local church closes. 22% of churchgoers who currently attend religious services in person said that they would be unwilling or unable to worship in a different church, and 7% said they would only attend services online. 

This piece of research also studied differences between different age groups, in different parts of the country, and across different denominations of Christianity, finding significant variations in groups across all of these categories.  

Whitestone Insight is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. 

The opinion poll findings

1. When asked 'What would you do if your local church building closed?' just under a quarter (22%) of church going Christians say they would no longer attend church services at all, while a further 7% say they would attend services only online. The same proportion (7%) said they would attend services less often than at present.   
2. Older people are most likely to stop going to church at all, with only 19% of those over 65 saying they would find a new church to attend as often as they do currently, if their local church were to close. Younger Christians (18-24s) appear to have greater resilience when presented with the possibility of church closures, with 28% saying they would find a new church to attend as often as they do currently, if their local church were to close.   
3. Churchgoers in the North East (30%) and North West (31%) of England were the most likely to stop going to church at all whilst those in London were least likely to stop going to church at all (14%). 28% of Christians in Scotland, 29% in Wales and 24% in Northern Ireland said they would no longer attend church services at all if their local church building closed.   
4. There are considerable variations between the attitude of different Christian denominations. Pentecostals were the denomination most likely to say they would find an alternative church building to attend as frequently as they do at present, at 32%, with only 5% saying they would stop attending church. Comparatively, 32% of Presbyterians said they would no longer attend church services at all.   
5. Alternative forms of worship do not appear to have much appeal. Only 7% of churchgoers would attend church services online only if their local church were to close. 3% of churchgoers said that they would attend services in a ‘new form of church’ such as a cafe, a community centre, a school or a mission hub.   
6. There appears to be a correlation between current church attendance and propensity to seek out a new church. 33% of those who attend church at least monthly said they would find a new church building to attend as often as they do currently, compared to just 12% who attend less than monthly.