A church bookstore needs to be sure to serve well its core customers—active church members—and a new study from the Barna Group helps them identify who those people are.

Looking at expressions of "group" faith, such as church attendance and participation in small groups, adult Sunday school programs and church volunteering, the researchers found:

Women lead the way. They drive most faith participation. A majority of weekly churchgoers are women (53%). Small groups that meet for prayer or Bible study (60%) and Sunday school programs for adults (59%) are also more likely to be attended by women. Similarly, a majority of church volunteers (57%) are female.

Home churches are the only type of participatory religious involvement in which most attendees are men (56%).

Older folks dominate. Two-thirds of small group attendees as well as house church participants and three-fifths of church volunteers and Sunday school goers were aged 45 and older.

Bigger church, more involvement. Americans who typically attend a church of at least 500 adults were among the most likely to also attend small groups and house churches and to volunteer. Those attending a medium-sized congregation (101 to 499 adults) were among the most likely to attend small groups and Sunday school classes.

Small-groupers study more. Personal Bible reading is most common among small group attendees. Two-thirds of church attendees (67%) said they had read the Bible outside of church in the previous week, while small group attendees were more likely to read the Bible personally (84%). Bible reading levels for church volunteers and Sunday school attendees were both 77%.

"There certainly is a dominant demographic faith profile of Christians in the nation," commented David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group. "The typical profile of an involved Christian is a married woman in her early 50s."

Source: The Barna Group.

To read the full report, go to: http://www.barna.org/faith-spirituality/400-who-is-active-in-group-expressions-of-faith-barna-study-examines-small-groups-sunday-school-and-house-churches.