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Church attendance refers to the reception of Christian religious services offered by a particular denomination, or more generally, by any Christian religious organization. Religious attendance plays an important role in generating social capital in a church community and thus contributes to the process of formation of social capital in the larger society. In addition, church attendance sheds light on the state of organized religion and allows for quantitative measurements of the collective expressions of religious life. == Rate of attendance == The Gallup International, a self-reporting survey conducted via telephone, indicates that 37% of Americans report that they attend religious services weekly or near-weekly in 2013. However, self-reporting surveys conducted online indicate substantially lower attendance rates, and methods of measurement that don't rely on self-reporting estimate even lower rates; for instance, a 2005 study published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion found that just 22% of Americans attend services weekly.). This compares to other countries claims such as 15% of French citizens, 10% of UK citizens,〔(One in 10 attends church weekly ) ''BBC News''.〕 and 7.5% of Australian citizens.〔(NCLS releases latest estimates of church attendance ). ''National Church Life Survey, Media release''.〕 In the U.K., in 2011, an average once-a-week attendance in Anglican churches went down by 0.3% compared with 2012, thus exhibiting a stabilizing trend.〔Baker, David. (New church attendance figures – do the numbers add up? ) ''Comment'', 16 May 2013.〕 Previously, starting from 2000, an average rate of weekly church attendance in Britain was dropping down 1% annually. In 2013, the Pew Research Center reported that 37% of all Americans attended church on a weekly basis.〔Lipka, Michael. (What surveys say about worship attendance – and why some stay home ). ''Pewresearch.org'', September 13, 2013.〕 In its turn, Gallup estimated the once-a-week church attendance of the Americans in 2013 as 39%.〔(Church Attendance Today Similar to 1940s ). ''Gallup'', January 19, 2014.〕 Based on 1990-1991 data, it was estimated that the country with the highest rate of church attendance in the world was Nigeria (89%) and with the lowest - the Soviet Union (2%).〔(How many people outside of North America go regularly to religious services? )〕 Nigeria's data was notable, as Nigeria is very religiously diverse - the population is 50.1% Muslim and 48.2% Christian. The state authorities in the USSR, which dissolved in 1991, did not encourage church construction; they had an uneasy relationship with traditional organized religions and relied instead on communist ideology which developed features of a civil religion.〔McFarland, Sam. Communism as religion. ''International journal for the psychology of religion'', Volume 8, no. 1 (1998): 33-48.〕 Approximations of the current church attendance in the Russian Federation vary from 3-4%〔http://religionip.ru/node/884 〕 to 7% attending on weekly basis.〔(Percentage of Russians who attend church reaches 71% - poll ), ''InterFax'', 27 February 2012.〕 A survey commissioned by the ''Época Magazine'' in 2005 showed that 29% of Brazilians attend church weekly, and indicated that it is lesser than in the United States but higher than in Western Europe and Japan, indeed showing that contrary to the local popular belief, Brazilians of the time could indeed be regarded as a religious people even in practice (though it is ponderable that the growth of the population declaring to be solely irreligious in nationwide censuses grew about 100% between 2000 and 2010, and 200% between 2000 and 2013, from 4% to 12%, and general secularization also grew among the portion of the population that remained religious).〔(Época – O brasileiro em números )〕 In a 2006, ''Financial Times (FT)/Harris Poll'' conducted online surveyed 12,507 adults over 16 years old in the United States (2,010 U.S. adults were surveyed) and five European countries (France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain and Spain). The survey found that only 26% of those polled attended religious services "every week or more often", 9% went "once or twice a month", 21% went "a few times a year", 3% went "once a year", 22% went "less than once a year", and 18% never attend religious services. ''Harris Interactive'' stated that the magnitude of errors cannot be estimated due to sampling errors and non-response bias. A previous nearly identical survey by Harris in 2003 found that only 26% of those surveyed attended religious services "every week or more often", 11% went "once or twice a month" 19% went "a few times a year", 4% went "once a year", 16% went "less than once a year", and 25% never attend religious services. Calculating the church's average weekend attendance is important since it determines the size of a given church. For example, in the U.S., an average weekend attendance of more than 2,000 people separates a mega church from a large church, and an average weekend attendance between 51 and 300 people defines the large church; while a small church is the church with an attendance lower than 50 people.〔(Church Sizes ). ''USA Churches.org''. Accessed on January 19, 2014.〕 (Alternative definitions, such as house church, simple church, intentional community, were proposed by the Barna Group, an American private consulting firm.〔(New Statistics on Church Attendance and Avoidance ). ''Barna Group'', March 3, 2008.〕) A narrow definition of a regular church attendee can be viewed as a synonym for a Sunday service visitation, while a broad definition, names as a regular attendee a person who comes to church during three out of eight weekends.〔Barnes, Rebecca and Lindy Lowry. (7 Startling Facts: An Up Close Look at Church Attendance in America ). ''Churchleaders.com''. Accessed on 19 January 2014.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Church attendance」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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