{"id":13805,"date":"2025-09-19T14:14:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T18:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=13805"},"modified":"2025-09-19T14:14:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T18:14:25","slug":"thank-you-charlie-churches-see-attendance-spike-after-charlie-kirk-assassination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2025\/09\/thank-you-charlie-churches-see-attendance-spike-after-charlie-kirk-assassination.html","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThank you, Charlie.\u201d Churches See Attendance Spike After Charlie Kirk Assassination"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Left: Gage Skidmore \/ commons.wikimedia.org | Right: X<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The nation continues to grapple with the aftermath of Charlie Kirk\u2019s murder. Kirk, a conservative Christian father and husband, was assassinated by a gunman last week while hosting a college campus talk at Utah Valley University. Kirk\u2019s Christian faith was a particularly prominent feature of his campus discussions, leaving many Christians leaning on their faith as they grapple with Kirk\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Despite the devastation, however, a number of churches have reported an increase in church attendance following Kirk\u2019s death. Not The Bee, the news site in partnership with the Christian satire site, Babylon Bee, highlighted several posts on social media of people attending church for the first time. \u201cGoogle searches for \u201cchurch\u201d are the highest in 12 months. We are going to win,\u201d wrote one user<\/a>.\u00a0 \u201cSignificant boost in millennials and zoomers at church today. Hoping it sticks,\u201d wrote Presbytery Inn<\/a>. Many attended after years of being out of church. \u201cWe did it fam. Went to church for the first time in more years than I can remember. Feels good man,\u201d wrote another user<\/a>. \u201cI just came back from church for the first time in 9 years. It was a Christian church that \u201cbathes\u201d in God\u2019s word every Sunday. This is my church! I have so much to process, and have so much to share. More to come\u2026CURRENT: Bathing in the blessings of the Lord for this day!\u201d said MAGA Scotty<\/a>. Even Robert Kennedy Jr.\u2019s family has been impacted as he noted that his 17-year-old niece packed a Bible in her suitcase. \u201cShe said, \u201cI want to live like Charlie Kirk,\u201d Kennedy told a crowd<\/a> at the Kennedy Center during a prayer vigil following Kirk\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n

Referred to as the \u201cCharlie Kirk Effect,\u201d a number of Catholic churches on universities also reported increased attendance. \u201cI have not talked to anyone who has not seen an increase in Mass attendance. Some schools are reporting increases of 15%,\u201d said Matt Zerrusen<\/a>, co-founder of Catholic non-profit Newman Ministry. Many are attending as Kirk\u2019s death has led them to grapple with some tough questions. \u201cSo many people are asking \u2018What do I do?\u2019 What is evil? How does God allow this? They are asking so many basic questions,\u201d said Zerrusen.<\/p>\n

Allie Beth Stuckey, a close friend of Kirk\u2019s, shared a message<\/a> she\u2019d received from someone who read their Bible for the first time in a year and was planning to be baptized. \u201cHave seen thousands of similar messages and comments across the internet,\u201d she wrote. \u201cLet the demons hiss, let the enemy do his best. God is using all of it\u2014even the evil, the darkness\u2014for His glory. This is our moment, Christians, to show a dying world what courage, clarity, strength, and hope look like. Don\u2019t shrink back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The nation continues to grapple with the aftermath of Charlie Kirk\u2019s murder. Kirk, a conservative Christian father and husband, was assassinated by a gunman last week while hosting a college campus talk at Utah Valley University. Kirk\u2019s Christian faith was a particularly prominent feature of his campus discussions, leaving many Christians leaning on their faith…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":13808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cThank you, Charlie.\u201d Churches See Attendance Spike After Charlie Kirk Assassination<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After Charlie Kirk\u2019s murder, churches report surging attendance as many seek God\u2014dubbed the \u201cCharlie Kirk Effect\u201d of renewed faith.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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