Worshipping Local? Congregation Proximity, Attendance, and Neighborhood Commitment

Abstract

The growth of suburban and exurban areas pushed many Americans into commuter lifestyles. People drive automobiles to work, to shop, to play, and presumably to worship. Yet, recent decades have birthed a countermovement that pulls people back to urban centers and an emphasis on local environments, i.e. to “go local.” Recognizing these centrifugal and centripetal forces, this study seeks to answer two interrelated questions: Are Americans traveling further to a place of worship than in the past? And, does the proximity of a person’s place of worship impact religious participation and neighborhood commitment? We use data from the 2017 Baylor Religion Survey to test three hypotheses. Our findings indicate that Americans lived further from their place of worship in 2017 than they did in 2001 or 2009. The benefits of worshipping local are mixed. People who belong to a congregation in their neighborhood attend more frequently, but they do not report feeling closer to their neighbors or more satisfied with the neighborhood. Rather, attending religious service, regardless of location, is associated with higher neighborhood commitment.