Fears for the future of America and the world are on the rise in American Protestant congregations, survey data from Lifeway Research revealed Tuesday.

About 69% of U.S. Protestant pastors said their congregations are fearful and 63% of those pastors reported specific “dread” about the future of Christianity at home and around the world, the evangelical research group said.

However, those figures have declined over the past decade or so, Lifeway reported. In 2010, the figure stood at 76% of pastors reporting fearful congregants. That dropped to 73% in 2011 and rose slightly to 74% the following year, the group said.

Today, 29% of pastors said there isn’t much fear for the future among their church members — up from 21% in 2010, 26% in 2011 and 24% in 2014.

The highest levels of fear were reported among non-denominational (75%) and Methodist congregations (74%), while 72% of Baptist and Lutheran churches reported fear in the pews.

Black pastors, at 42%, were least likely to agree that their congregants are fearful, while Hispanic (62%) and White pastors (71%) were the most likely to report fears.

Scott McConnell, Lifeway Research’s executive director, said in a statement that while believers are told in Scripture that difficult times lie ahead, the Bible “doesn’t prescribe fear as the response to adversity. Instead, it frequently encourages rejoicing and faithfulness as anxieties are cast upon God.”

Noting the lower number of pastors reporting fearful Christians in their ranks, Mr. McConnell said, “Compared to a decade ago, a few more churches today are avoiding the impulse to fear changes and adversity around them. But a large majority of pastors see their congregations moving toward fear rather than away from it.”

Lifeway said it surveyed 1,000 Protestant pastors via telephone from Sept. 6-30. The margin of error for the survey results is not greater than plus or minus 3.2 percentage points at a 05% confidence level.

• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.