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By Park Ji-won
"I used to go to church with my parents, which could be a nightmare from time to time, as I didn't have an excuse to decline attending. But after the spread of the infectious disease, the church had to shut down several times and opened a streaming session every Sunday," a 34-year-old churchgoer said. "I believe in God and participate in online services but I don't go to church anymore."
Most Korean Protestants are satisfied with participating in online church services, while their communities think it is inevitable to see a decline in the numbers of worshippers after the pandemic, a recent survey showed.
The survey conducted on over 891 pastors and 1,000 churchgoers from June 17 to 30 by the Presbyterian Church of Korea (yesjang), Ministry Data Institute and Christianity Media Forum of Korea showed that 83.2 percent of churchgoers are satisfied with the online sessions, compared to 89.4 percent who said they like attending church offline.
"Given the fact that more than 80 percent of churchgoers are satisfied with online services, it appears that online services became more suitable for worshippers even though they prefer the offline services more," an official of the survey reportedly said.
Currently, more than half of churches, or 52 percent, hold a hybrid church service through online and offline platforms, according to the survey ― the number was 25.4 percent in May last year. The percentage of churches holding only offline services dropped to 36.2 percent in June from 60.6 percent in May last year.
However, pastors think the number of churchgoers may drop by 26.5 percent after the COVID-19 pandemic, even lower than May last year.
The expectation is likely backed by the actual decline in the number of churchgoers since last year. On average, pastors said that as of June the number of weekly churchgoers saw a 19.6 percent decline, down 2.1 percent from November last year. 29.7 percent, accounting for the largest portion, said 10 percent to 20 percent of churchgoers stopped coming to church after the breakout of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, 48.4 percent of churchgoers said they are willing to join an online church that holds online services and occasional offline events, while 36.6 percent said they are not interested in doing so and 15 percent expressed indifference.
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