Church coverage is important

Few things impact us like our faith.

According to the most recent Gallup Poll, released Dec. 24, 2013, one in four of us say we attended church in the past seven days. That's been pretty steady over the past three years and is close to where it was in 1940 and 1950, noted the Gallup Poll story by Frank Newport.

The author noted that the highest measure of weekly church attendance in the past 74 years came in the mid to late 1950s into the early 1960s when almost half of American adults said they had attended religious services in the past seven days.

Since that time, weekly church attendance has settled into a range between 40 and 45 percent.

In this same story, an average of 56 percent of Americans in 2013 said religion is "very important" in their lives, while another 22 percent said it is "fairly important."

This too has been steady during this time, and mirrors the trend of a drop from that 1950-60s era to a fairly even pattern since then, with some slight percentage swings. The high was 75 percent in 1952.

Previous studies showed that those who live in Mississippi are the most frequent churchgoers in the nation, with 63 percent reported attendance. Nine of the top 10 states in church attendance are in the South; the only non-Southern state is Utah, with 56 percent frequent attendance.

Alabama at 58, South Carolina at 56, Louisiana at 56, Utah at 56, Tennessee at 54, Arkansas at 53, North Carolina at 53, Georgia at 51, and Texas at 50, follow.

Vermont residents go to church the least, with 23 percent saying they attend. Other states at the bottom of church attendance are in either New England or the West.

In our region, Kansas has about a 46 percent church attendance, Missouri 45, and Oklahoma 49.

Southern states have high proportions of residents who identify as Protestant Christians -- faith traditions with high average church attendance levels. Residents of New England, the Northwest, and other Western states are more likely to have no religious identity, usually associated with low church attendance, noted the Gallup Poll results.

The majority of Utah residents are Mormons, a group with the highest average church attendance level of any major religious group in the country, noted the authors of the poll.

Next to our schools and their impact on our lives, our area churches provide a framework for religious pursuit and socialization.

A community is often characterized by its volunteer and selfless endeavors and our churches provide a foundation for that outreach.

Because of this deep connection, we feel this is an important area of our newspaper coverage.

We'd like to hear from you and your church, big or small, about what's going on.

If you have a new youth minister, if your church is hosting a revival or a special event, we'd like to know about it.

We'd like to know about the various church and community groups that meet at your building and what your sermon topic is going to be for the coming service.

Additionally, we'd like to profile a different church each week, highlighting each of our churches over the course of our coverage.

Our Friday edition lists 47 churches in our immediate area. Doubtless, there are others as well.

Many churches have special services recognizing their leaders or members of their congregation. There are often events, such as those centered on the holidays that would be worth noting.

It's our intent to provide the information that you, our readers, look for and want. And you can help us.

Items from your church will help us keep everyone informed on what's happening in our communities.

You may email your submissions to us via our lifestyles editor, Sharyon Duke, at sduke@nevadadailymail.com or Ralph Pokorny, at rpokorny@nevadadailymail.com, our editor.

Be sure to copy myself, fjernigan@nevadadailymail.com to ensure we're covered when someone is out on vacation or ill.

Be sure to send your weekly submissions each Wednesday by 5 p.m. so we have them in plenty of time for Friday's edition. If you're going to be late, be sure to call us at 667-3344 and let us know and we'll do our best to accommodate that.

Thanks in advance for your contributions.