By Aaron Earls
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — Over the past decade, churchgoers are more likely to see someone of a different ethnicity in their congregation but less likely to hear about that racial diversity from the pulpit.
A Lifeway Research study of U.S. Protestant pastors finds churches have seemingly grown more diverse, while pastors have grown less likely to see that diversity as a goal and preach about racial reconciliation.
“American congregations have a long history of being comprised of almost entirely one ethnicity. The reasons reflect both social tendencies and historical factors such as repercussions from slavery, waves of immigration from specific regions and denominations that also immigrated to the U.S.,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research.
“While the majority of new churches seek to reach people from multiple ethnicities or cultures, most fall short of sociologists’ multi-ethnic threshold, which is when the largest ethnic group does not exceed 80%.”
Diversity in the pews
Currently, around 3 in 4 pastors (77%) say their church is predominantly one racial or ethnic group, including 50% who strongly agree. More than 1 in 5 (22%) disagree, and 1% aren’t sure.
That percentage is near recent levels but part of an overall downward trend, as more churches seemingly have become diverse. In 2013, 86% said their church had one primary racial group, including 64% who strongly agreed. That fell to 81% in 2017, with 53% strongly agreeing. The year 2021 saw another decline, down to 76%, including 55% who strongly agree. The most recent numbers fall in between 2017 and 2021 levels.
“Churches have slowly reflected changes in the U.S. population, but many are decades behind shifts in the size of ethnic groups in their communities,” said McConnell.
Currently, white pastors (79%) are among the most likely to say their congregation is mostly one ethnic group. Mainline pastors are also more likely to agree than their evangelical counterparts (83% v. 75%). Denominationally, Pentecostal pastors (50%) are the least likely to agree.
Pastors in the Midwest (86%) are the most likely to lead a church with one predominant racial group. Those in rural areas (85%) are also more likely than those at urban churches (76%).
Church size also plays a role, with smaller churches being less diverse than larger ones. Pastors at churches with worship service attendance of fewer than 50 (82%) and those at churches of 50-99 attendees (80%) are more likely than congregations of 250 and more (70%) to say their church is mostly one ethnic group.
Diversity as a goal
Most pastors believe every church should strive to achieve racial diversity, but that number has declined in recent years.
Today, more than 4 in 5 U.S. Protestant pastors (84%) believe that should be an aim of all congregations, including 64% who strongly agree. Around 1 in 7 (14%) disagree, while 3% aren’t sure.
In 2013, 86% agreed diversity should be a goal. The percentage jumped to 93% in 2017, before dropping since then—88% in 2021 and 84% now.
“Now that we have more historical context across these surveys, 2017 stands out as an outlier,” said McConnell. “That year, 93% of pastors agreed every church should strive for racial diversity and 80% strongly agreed. Some pastors were likely impacted by the violent clashes at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, just a couple weeks prior to the survey that year. Still, the typical response of more than 4 in 5 pastors reflect a strong value among Protestant pastors that the fellowship of each local church is to be for people of all ethnicities.”
While evangelical congregations are seemingly more likely to be diverse, mainline pastors are more likely to see diversity as a goal. Almost 9 in 10 mainline ministers (89%) say that should be the case, compared to 79% of evangelical pastors.
Denominationally, Pentecostal (91%), Holiness (91%) and Methodist pastors (89%) are more likely than Lutheran (77%) and non-denominational pastors (76%) to say every church should strive to achieve racial diversity.
Pastors at the smallest and largest churches are among the most likely to agree, as 88% of those at churches of 250 or more and 87% of those with fewer than 50 believe all churches should seek ethnic diversity.
Diversity in the sermon
Almost 3 in 5 (56%) pastors say they preach on racial reconciliation or speak about it in a large group meeting at their church at least once a year, but a growing number say it’s never a sermon topic.
Around 1 in 7 (15%) cover the subject from the pulpit at least once a month, including 7% who do so several times a month. Another 29% do so several times a year, and 12% say they preach on racial reconciliation about once a year.
A quarter (24%) rarely broach the subject in a sermon, and 17% say it’s never part of their preaching. Another 4% aren’t sure.
In previous studies, few pastors said they never preached on racial reconciliation—7% in 2014, 4% in 2017 and 8% in 2021—before jumping to almost 1 in 5 pastors today. The percentage of pastors who rarely preach on the subject is also at its highest level.
Meanwhile, fewer pastors are covering the issue from the pulpit several times a year or about once a month. Both of those are lower than the previous three studies. In 2017, 14% preached on the subject about once a month; today the number is halved (7%). Similarly, almost a decade ago, 39% discussed racial reconciliation from the pulpit several times a year, while 29% do so today.
“Since 7 in 10 Americans believe our country still has a long way to go on race relations, it is not for lack of need that pastors are not addressing racial reconciliation,” said McConnell. “The majority of pastors still address racial reconciliation each year, but the rise in pastors who rarely or never address the topic from the pulpit across many demographic groups appears disconnected from this need.”
Middle-aged pastors, those 45-64, are more likely than pastors 65 and older to say they never bring up the issue in a large group setting (19% v. 11%).
African American pastors are most likely to preach about racial reconciliation regularly. More than 1 in 3 (35%) say they do so once a month or more. White pastors (31%) are among the most likely to talk about the subject several times a year.
Pastors in urban areas are more likely than those in rural contexts to address racial reconciliation in sermons several times a month (9% v. 3%).
Mainline pastors are more likely than evangelical ministers to discuss the issue several times a year (35% v. 27%). In specific denominations, Methodists (40%) are more likely than Lutheran (27%), non-denominational (25%), Baptist (24%) or Holiness pastors (22%) to preach on racial reconciliation several times a year.
Those at the smallest churches, fewer than 50 in attendance, are the most likely to broach the subject several times a year (37%).
For more information, view the complete report and visit LifewayResearch.com.
-30-
Aaron Earls is the senior writer for Lifeway Research.
Methodology
The phone survey of 1,003 Protestant pastors was conducted Sept. 2-24, 2025. The calling list was a stratified random sample, drawn from a list of all Protestant churches. Quotas were used for church size. Each interview was conducted with the senior pastor, minister or priest at the church. Responses were weighted by region and church size to more accurately reflect the population. The completed sample is 1,003 surveys. The sample provides 95% confidence that the sampling error does not exceed plus or minus 3.3%. This margin of error accounts for the effect of weighting. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups. Comparisons are also made to a telephone survey of 1,000 pastors using the same methodology in Sept. 1-29, 2021; 1,000 in Aug. 30- Sept. 18, 2017; 1,007 in Sept. 4-19, 2013; and 1,000 in Sept. 11-18, 2014.
