Research • Updated April 2026
How many people pray, how churches collect prayer requests, and what's changing in 2026.
Sources: Pew Research Center, Barna Group, Lifeway Research, and PrayerConnect platform observations.
44%
of US adults pray daily
Pew's 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study found that 44% of US adults say they pray every day, down from 58% in 2007 — making prayer still one of the most common spiritual practices in the country, even amid an overall religious decline.
Source: Pew Research Center, Religious Landscape Study (2025)
30%
of US adults pray several times a day
Roughly three in ten US adults report praying multiple times a day, according to Pew's 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study — indicating a deeply prayerful core even within a smaller religiously active population.
Source: Pew Research Center, Religious Landscape Study (2025)
75%+
of practicing Christians want to pray more
The majority of practicing Christians say they wish their personal prayer life was deeper and more consistent, suggesting demand for tools that build sustainable prayer habits.
Source: Barna Group, The State of Prayer
85%
of pastors view prayer as central to ministry
Pastors consistently rank corporate and personal prayer among the most important spiritual disciplines for a healthy congregation.
Digital prayer walls reduce friction to participate
When churches move from paper cards or pastor-only email inboxes to a shared digital prayer wall, members who would never raise a hand on a Sunday morning can quietly submit a request from their phone. Anonymity, convenience, and persistence all matter for sustained participation.
Multi-site churches lose prayer in handoffs
Networks of campuses often end up with prayer information stuck at one location. A platform designed for multi-location prayer management surfaces requests across the network while still allowing campus-specific moderation and privacy.
Privacy is a major barrier to participation
Members often hesitate to share sensitive prayer needs (mental health, marriage, finances, family) when they don't know who can read them. Granular privacy levels — public, church, location, private — give people more confidence to share what's actually on their hearts.
Human moderation builds trust
AI moderation can flag legitimate prayer language as 'harmful' and erodes trust by sending sensitive content to third-party models. Keeping moderation in human hands tends to increase member confidence in submitting personal requests.
All statistics on this page are sourced from publicly available third-party research by Pew Research Center and Barna Group, with sources linked beneath each stat. The "Insights" section reflects observations and product design commentary from PrayerConnect, not measured statistics. Last reviewed April 2026.
See how PrayerConnect helps churches move from paper to digital prayer walls.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about church prayer engagement.