And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:24–25 NIV).
Regular church attendance is important to Seventh-day Adventists, both for worship and for fellowship and encouragement, but there are studies that suggest church members who do not attend regularly are more likely to leave the church entirely.[i]
The Institutional Workers’ Survey of 2023 asked workers at Adventist institutions who identified as Seventh-day Adventists how likely it was that they would be attending an Adventist church for the rest of their lives, on a scale of 0 (very unlikely) to 5 (very likely).
The responses from educational employees vastly outnumbered the non-educational employees by 4,109 to 234.
Of the 4,109 educational workers who answered this question, 73.6% reported that they were “very likely” to attend an Adventist church for the rest of their lives, while just 4.3% said that it was “very unlikely.”
Of the 234 non-educational employees, 88.1% said that they were “very likely” to attend church for the rest of their lives, while only 1% said it was “very unlikely.”
Responses varied considerably among Divisions, as did the number who answered. The highest number of “very likely” answers from educational workers were from the West-Central Africa Division, at 96.7% (30 responses); the Southern Asia-Pacific Division, at 92.1% (76 responses); and the Euro-Asia Division, at 90.3% (62 responses).
Because they are too few, the responses from non-educational workers are difficult to compare. Four Divisions answered 100% to “very likely,” but had an average of only nine respondents each. The East-Central Africa Division had 89.3% of their 83 respondents answering that they were “very likely” to keep attending, while 95% of the 40 Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division respondents agreed that they were “very likely.” The Trans-European Division had 11 respondents, 60% of whom agreed they were “very likely,” while 30% chose “likely.” It also had the highest number of respondents choosing “very unlikely,” though this was only 10%.
Ellen White wrote, “Communing together in regard to Christ will strengthen the soul for life’s trials and conflicts. Never think that you can be Christians and yet withdraw yourselves within yourselves. Each one is a part of the great web of humanity, and the experience of each will be largely determined by the experience of his associates” (Ellen G. White, Testimonies 6, p. 362).
With the link between regular attendance and long-term attendance, we should be reaching out to members we haven’t seen for a while to see if there are needs that we can fulfil for them that would help them find their way back to the church.
You can access the full report here.
Created in collaboration with the Institute of Church Ministry.
Published by ASTR on 4/21/2026.
[i] https://baptistcourier.com/2007/02/church-loyalty-reflects-length-of-membership/