Download the Q1 2025 Unstuck Church Report
Every quarter, The Unstuck Group compiles data from churches across the United States to monitor trends in church health, growth, and ministry effectiveness.
The newest edition of The Unstuck Church Report is here!
For this quarter’s report, we received survey responses from 487 churches, giving us valuable insights into current church trends. These churches ranged from 100 to over 13,000 in physical attendance for worship gatherings. The average in-person attendance of churches that participated was 938 people.
Key Findings from the Q1 2025 Unstuck Church Report
From the Q1 2025 Quarterly Report, we examined several key metrics that indicate both exciting growth and emerging challenges in churches across America. The data reveals some fascinating trends that church leaders should pay attention to:
- Multisite momentum continues – 25% of surveyed churches now employ a multisite strategy, with this number rising to 54% among churches averaging 1,000+ in attendance. This trend suggests that churches are increasingly finding success in extending their reach through multiple locations.
- Growth outpacing engagement – While churches are experiencing encouraging attendance growth, engagement metrics are struggling to keep pace. Small group participation has decreased from 53% to 43% year-over-year, and volunteer engagement remains flat at 35% of attendance.
- Financial indicators mixed – Churches reported an 8% increase in general fund giving, yet per capita giving has declined from $60 two years ago to $51 currently. However, churches are maintaining strong financial positions with an average of 8 months in cash reserves.
- Staffing challenges persist – Churches continue to be overstaffed compared to healthy benchmarks, with one full-time equivalent staff member for every 53 attendees, versus the recommended ratio of 1:75.
The data tells us that while churches are experiencing growth in raw numbers, they need to focus on strengthening their engagement systems and strategies to ensure sustainable, healthy growth. This may require reevaluating current approaches to connection, discipleship, and organizational structure.
This quarter’s report was sponsored by StudioC:
If discipleship is your church’s ultimate Why, engagement is your How. The problem is, most churches struggle to extract meaningful insights from their database, leaving leadership teams without the clear picture they need. Most church communication is simply a flood of every message to every person across every channel, leaving your people frustrated and overwhelmed with information. With a deep understanding of ministry needs, StudioC brings the science of personalized engagement to the Church, enabling you to create personalized discipleship journeys at scale.
Their two flagship software solutions – ChurchIQ and Member Engagement Solution – help your church unlock the full potential of combining rich data driven analytics with highly-targeted messaging.
With StudioC’s software, you can:
● Know the macro- and micro-level movements of your people
● Match them to their relevant next steps
● Tell them through your existing church app
See for yourself at thestudioc.org
The Multisite Unstuck Process
Start a conversation today to learn more about how we can help you continue to fulfill God’s calling on your church to reach more people in more places.
Get Your FREE Copy of The Q1 2025 Unstuck Church Report
Our goal for this report is that it spurs healthy conversations among the leaders on church teams as we take a look at:
- Attendance Growth Trends – Understanding the current surge in church attendance and its implications
- Engagement Metrics – Examining the challenges of maintaining strong connection in growing churches
- Multisite Movement – Analyzing the continued expansion of multisite strategies
- Financial Health – Reviewing giving patterns and resource management
- Staffing Ratios – Evaluating current staffing models against healthy benchmarks
The report also features our insights on growing engagement in a growing church, key staffing and financial benchmarks, plus additional resources from report sponsor StudioC to help drive greater engagement in your church.
Subscribe today and get The Unstuck Church Report for free each quarter:
