Most US adults say church buildings are ‘transcendent’ spaces but majority don’t visit regularly By Leonardo Blair, Senior Features Reporter for Christian Post
GNN Note – The church we attend is growing by significant numbers each month. / END
While most U.S. adults view church buildings as transcendent spaces where they can experience a sense of peace and a connectedness to the divine, the majority, including self-identified Christians, do not regularly visit a space they consider transcendent, new research shows.
An online quantitative survey of 2,000 U.S. adults, conducted from Feb. 28 to March 9, was published by The Barna Group in a new report called “Making Space for Inspiration,” part of a three-part series in partnership with Aspen Group. The study explores how church leaders can better connect with people through more intentional design of their physical meeting spaces.
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According to the report, 55% of U.S. adults reported that they do not regularly visit a space they consider “transcendent.” The study defines transcendent spaces as “a physical place that brings you closer to experiencing connection with something beyond the physical world.”
Only 37% of self-identified Christians said they regularly visit transcendent spaces, but 89% of practicing Christians surveyed reported Christian churches as being transcendent. By comparison, 62% of adults in the general population said the same.
A higher number of respondents agreed that nature is more transcendent than church buildings. Seventy percent of U.S. adult respondents reported nature as a transcendent space, while 74% of practicing Christians agreed.
Practicing Christians (66%) are more likely than all U.S. adults (51%) to believe that spaces in their homes can be transcendent.
When asked what makes space “transcendent,” more than half (51%) of respondents said a “sense of peace or calm.” The data also suggests that no population demographic — including practicing Christians (43%) — says “an awareness of a greater power” is what makes a place transcendent.
