Congregations can provide social connection, practical assistance, trusted relationships and opportunities to serve. U.S. surveys measure these roles in different populations and periods, so the figures below are descriptive rather than causal estimates.
Table of contents
- Participation beyond worship
- Community involvement and belonging
- Material assistance through congregations
- Clergy relationships and advice
- Parish participation and local ties
- Trust, well-being and civic connection
Participation beyond worship
Congregational social support often begins with regular contact outside a worship service. In a Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2007-2008, 37% of U.S. adults who attended a house of worship participated at least monthly in activities there other than religious services. The same survey found that 28% participated monthly in social activities at their church or other house of worship, 19% participated monthly in community or volunteer work through it, 18% participated monthly in work with children, and 12% participated monthly in a choir or musical program. These are historical baseline measures, not current estimates. (Pew Research Center, “Chapter 1: Religious Beliefs and Practices”)
Another Pew Research Center measure shows how involvement varies among U.S. Christians. In 2014, 30% had high congregational involvement, 58% had medium involvement and 12% had low involvement on a scale combining membership, worship attendance and small-group attendance. The scale therefore captures more than service attendance alone. (Pew Research Center, “Church involvement varies widely among U.S. Christians”)
| U.S. Christian group, 2014 | High congregational involvement |
|---|---|
| Latter-day Saints | 67% |
| Jehovah’s Witnesses | 64% |
| Evangelical Protestants | 43% |
| Historically Black Protestants | 41% |
| Mainline Protestants | 20% |
| Catholics | 16% |
The figures describe the share classified as highly involved on Pew’s three-measure scale. They should not be read as a ranking of the quality of congregational relationships or as a measure of support received. (Pew Research Center, “Church involvement varies widely among U.S. Christians”)
Community involvement and belonging
More recent data distinguish religious communities from broader spiritual communities. In a Pew Research Center survey conducted in July-August 2023, about 40% of U.S. adults said they were involved in a religious community such as a church or religious congregation. The share was 54% among adults affiliated with a religion and 7% among religiously unaffiliated adults. (Pew Research Center, “3. Spiritual practices”)
Fourteen percent of U.S. adults said they were involved in a spiritual community, defined in the survey as a group connecting people with something bigger, nature or other people. Ten percent said they were involved in both a religious community and a spiritual community, while 4% said they were involved in a spiritual community but not a religious community. Among religiously affiliated adults, 17% said they were part of a spiritual community, compared with 8% of religiously unaffiliated adults. (Pew Research Center, “3. Spiritual practices”)
Importance varies as well. Eleven percent of religiously affiliated U.S. adults said spiritual-community involvement was extremely or very important to them, compared with 3% of religiously unaffiliated adults. Looking at all adults involved in a spiritual community, 8% said that involvement was extremely or very important. The measures show that belonging can be present without being described as highly important by every participant. (Pew Research Center, “3. Spiritual practices”)
Material assistance through congregations
Congregational support can also be material. In a Pew Research Center study covering 2019-2020, 29% of Black U.S. adults said they had turned to a church or other religious congregation for help with bills, housing or food at some point. The comparable figure for U.S. adults overall was 17, making the reported difference 12 percentage points. (Pew Research Center, “Churches and religion in Black American life”)
Income was associated with different reported levels of congregational help-seeking among Black adults. Forty-five percent of those with household incomes below $30,000 said they had sought church or congregational help with bills, housing or food. The share was 21% among those with incomes from $30,000 to $74,999 and 9% among those with incomes of at least $75,000. These figures report whether respondents had turned to a congregation; they do not measure the amount, duration or outcome of assistance. (Pew Research Center, “Churches and religion in Black American life”)
The same study found that 32% of Black Protestants had turned to a religious congregation for help with bills, housing or food, as had 30% of Black adults who attended a Black church. During the coronavirus outbreak, 13% of Black adults said they turned to a religious organization for housing, bills or food assistance, compared with 16% who turned to a nonreligious charitable organization and 29% who turned to family or friends. The outbreak-specific figures refer to July 2020. (Pew Research Center, “Churches and religion in Black American life”)
Clergy relationships and advice
Clergy can be one part of a congregation’s relational support network. Among U.S. adults attending religious services at least a few times a year, 88% rated the ethical standards of clergy at their own congregation as high or very high in a Pew Research Center survey conducted September-November 2019. Seventy percent said they had a very or somewhat close relationship with their clergy, including 19% who said very close and 50% who said somewhat close. (Pew Research Center, “Most congregants trust clergy to give religious advice about religious issues, fewer trust clergy on personal matters”)
Confidence was highest for explicitly religious questions. Sixty-eight percent of religious attenders had a lot of confidence in clergy to give useful advice about growing closer to God, and 60% had a lot of confidence in clergy to give useful advice about interpreting scripture. The corresponding figures were 47% for marriage and relationships, 40% for parenting, 27% for mental-health problems and 21% for personal finances. (Pew Research Center, “Most congregants trust clergy to give religious advice about religious issues, fewer trust clergy on personal matters”)
Comfort with seeking advice also depended on the topic. Eighty percent said they would be very or somewhat comfortable seeking clergy advice when they had doubts about their religion: 45% were very comfortable and 35% somewhat comfortable. By contrast, 33% were not too or not at all comfortable discussing anxiety or depression with clergy, and 45% were not too or not at all comfortable discussing financial problems. Among attenders who felt close to their clergy, 56% were very comfortable seeking advice about religious doubts, compared with 20% among those who did not feel close. (Pew Research Center, “Most congregants trust clergy to give religious advice about religious issues, fewer trust clergy on personal matters”)
Parish participation and local ties
Catholic parish data provide a more recent example of local congregational connection. In a Pew Research Center survey conducted February 3-9, 2025, 68% of U.S. Catholics who ever attended Mass said they typically went to their local parish. Ten percent mostly attended somewhere other than their local parish. Fourteen percent said they volunteered at their parish, and 16% participated at least several times a year in parish activities other than Mass, such as prayer groups or community meals. (Pew Research Center, “Catholic parish life, culture and community”)
Overall, 22% of U.S. Catholics said they volunteered or participated in activities other than Mass, or did both, at their parish. Among Catholics who attended Mass weekly, the share was 51%. This contrast shows why participation statistics need their population definition stated: the weekly-attender figure is not an estimate for all U.S. Catholics. (Pew Research Center, “Catholic parish life, culture and community”)
Views of parish priests were broadly favorable in the same February 2025 survey. Seventy-one percent of U.S. Catholics expressed a favorable view of their parish priest or priests, including 32% very favorable and 39% mostly favorable. Among Catholics who attended Mass at least weekly, 95% expressed a favorable view, while 3% expressed an unfavorable view. (Pew Research Center, “Catholic parish life, culture and community”)
Trust, well-being and civic connection
Some survey measures connect religious involvement with broader social outcomes, but they are associations rather than causal estimates. A pooled cross-survey analysis of the 2010s found that 36% of actively religious U.S. adults described themselves as very happy, compared with 25% of both inactively religious and religiously unaffiliated adults. The same analysis found that 58% of actively religious adults were active in at least one nonreligious voluntary organization, compared with 51% of inactively religious adults and 39% of unaffiliated adults. (Pew Research Center, “Religion’s Relationship to Happiness, Civic Engagement and Health Around the World”)
The analysis also reported that 69% of actively religious U.S. adults said they always voted in national elections, compared with 59% of inactively religious adults and 48% of unaffiliated adults. These results use pooled cross-survey measures from the 2010s, not a single current election or a forecast of future participation. (Pew Research Center, “Religion’s Relationship to Happiness, Civic Engagement and Health Around the World”)
A Pew Research Center report measuring July 17, 2023-March 4, 2024 data found that 72% of U.S. Latter-day Saint adults said they had volunteered during the previous 12 months, compared with 41% of all U.S. adults. Among Latter-day Saint adults, the share was 91% for those with a bachelor’s degree or more and 61% for those with less education. Forty-eight percent of Latter-day Saint adults said most people can be trusted, compared with 34% of all U.S. adults. (Pew Research Center, “Latter-day Saints have strong communal ties, high social trust”)
Public views of religious institutions also capture the expected community role. In 2014, 89% of U.S. adults said religious institutions bring people together and strengthen community bonds. Eighty-seven percent said religious institutions play an important role in helping the poor and needy; the share was 90% among U.S. Christians and 78% among religiously unaffiliated U.S. adults. These figures describe perceptions of institutional roles, not the number of congregations providing a specific service. (Pew Research Center, “American Views of Religious Institutions”)