A vast majority (83 percent) of Americans are most influenced by the preaching when searching for a new church, according to a recent report by Pew Research Center, which focused on frequency and reasons for changing churches or house of worship.
About 50 percent of American adults said that they had searched for a new congregation at least at one point in their lives, and most of whom cited moving as the reason for moving to a different church.
Some 79 percent of American adults looking for a church said that feeling welcomed by leaders was the next most important factor, other than preaching, in choosing a new congregation.
Style of services (74 percent) and location (70 percent) were other crucial elements in the choice of new worship place.
Education for kids (56 percent), having friends or family in congregation (48 percent), and availability of volunteering opportunity (42 percent) were other reasons considered important by those looking for a new congregation.
Only 19 percent of the people said that they changed the church because of some theological reason or any dissatisfaction at the previous house of worship.
About 85 percent of the people looking for new church attended the service first-hand before making a decision to join a church, while 70 percent had done so on recommendation of members of congregation or friends. Some 55 percent had spoken with clergy at the congregation.
Only 37 percent had looked for the church information online before making the decision, while 19 percent had called up the church.
About 28 percent of Americans said that finding a new church was not easy, and nearly 40 percent said they were not happy with at least one characteristic of the new church. Some 26 percent had theological differences with the church they tried to join.
Accessibility of churches (24 percent) was a factor which made it difficult for the new attendants to make it regularly to the church. Some 23 percent of the people were not satisfied with the fellowship at the new congregations they considered at some point in their lives.
The findings of this report were based on Pew's Religious Landscape Study in 2014, which interviewed over 35,000 adults over phone. An additional 3,000 people were added to further explore these religious trends.
