Presbyterian News Service: Staying in Bed Outranks Sitting In Pews, Survey Says

October 25, 2006

Here’s an interesting piece of news from RNS.

Staying in bed outranks sitting in pews, survey says

by Adelle M. Banks
Religion News Service

WASHINGTON — A good night’s sleep ranks far above attending church as a favorite activity, a nationwide poll shows.

The Barna Group asked more than 1,000 adults to say how much they looked forward to any of 17 activities, ranging from sleeping to completing tax forms.

Seven out of 10 — 71 percent — of respondents said they relished the thought of getting enough sleep. That contrasted with 40 percent who said they looked forward “a lot” to attending church services, which was the fourth most appealing activity…

Given people’s hectic and overbooked lives, this isn’t that surprising. More people are just plain exhausted after a long week at work and watching their kids. Some days staying in bed is exactly what I want to be doing.

The other two activities in the top four were being with friends and listening to music, both of which, when you think about it, can be something that we do at church.

Church needs to be a place where people are fed: spiritually, emotionally, and sometimes literally! It needs to be that place where weary people can go to be rejuvenated. What can we do to do that part of church better?

Posted in Religion and Culture