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Across US, houses of worship struggle to rebuild attendance

Michael Wyke/AP

Rev. Meredith Mills delivers a sermon from the pulpit for some 30 attendants during the second service of the day in the sanctuary at Westminster United Methodist Church Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021, in Houston. Attendance for the two Sunday services is only about half of the average pre-pandemic turnout of about 160 or 170, Mills says. “It's better now than it was a year ago, but it's still frustrating,” she said. “People just seem to want to leave home less these days.” (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

By: Associated Press

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In-person attendance at houses of worship across the U.S. has slowly risen from dramatically low levels when the pandemic surged in the spring of 2020.

But in many cases, attendance is still not back to pre-pandemic levels and in some cases, it’s less than half.

For example, the First Church of God in Columbus, Ohio, used to draw a total of about 2,500 worshipers to three services each weekend.

Now there’s a single service on Sunday, and only 500 worshipers with masks and proof of vaccination are allowed into a sanctuary that can seat more than three times that number.

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Across US, houses of worship struggle to rebuild attendance

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