Online worship service is under way at a large church in central Seoul in this file photo taken on July 18, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 28 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean Protestant churches are going all-out to bring back Christians who stayed away from onsite worship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Laity Ministry Development Center of the New Eden Church in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province and various parishes are visiting churchgoers’ homes and giving them handwritten letters, bible verse postcards and gifts as part of efforts to bring them back to churches.
One parish held a prayer meeting with the desire of bringing unattended Christians back to the church.
The church said that thanks to such efforts, the attendance rate of its members recovered to 80 percent of pre-pandemic levels in late May and about 90 percent last Sunday.
According to a report released by the Ministry Data Institute, churches’ onsite worship attendance rate is recovering at a slow pace.
The institute conducted a survey with 981 pastors in charge who belong to the General Assembly of Presbyterian Churches of Korea in April.
The survey showed that after the lifting of social distancing rules, the onsite worship attendance rate reached 73 percent of the pre-pandemic level. If including online worship services, the attendance rate reached about 80 percent.
After the lifting of social distancing rules, the school church attendance rate hovered at 43 percent, with the registration of new church members remaining at 20 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
This indicated that the pandemic resulted in a sharp decline in the influx of new church members.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
