All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
The Disappearing, Shrinking Church in America: Why?
Why the dramatic and continuing decline of the so-called "mainline" Protestant Churches in America over the past half century? Should their falling membership numbers be a cause for concern? Why or why not? What is the wider significance of this trend and its implications for the church or body of Christ generally?
Click here for background information and sources/footnotes.
Views: 1184
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Tim on
-
Hi,
I don't want to offend anybody here but I really think the answer lies in the fact that God is always moving on, moving forward and those who refuse to move forward with him are usually those left in dying institutions. These denominations langour on for a while showing signs of life but in actual fact are only reflecting what has gone before and has now departed, leaving only mans systems in place dead rhetoric and a shadow of where they used to be when they originally started moving with God.
The grace of God is such that something of his Spirit stays awhile, but God has in reality moved on.
Just as the cloud and the fire moved on in front of the Israelites in the wilderness, any poor soul not up early enough to follow was left behind, straggling for a while and eventually picked off and killed by the enemy or simply starved to death.
Find out what God is doing now and get involved in that. New life, fresh water, you will not survive very long without drinking fresh from the living word.
Be blessed
Tim
-
Permalink Reply by Amanda on
-
I once had a discussion similar to this one here but it has been deleted, and I am happy to see this discussion ... it is a great topic. I guess it's the postmodern world we live in and how it is affecting the church but the Body of Christ is alive and well IMO. There are many postmodern churches going up and one of their main goals is to be culturally relevant. More churches are closing their doors though than new ones are being planted according to statistics http://www.barna.org/faith-spirituality/543-top-trends-of-2011-chan... http://www.keepgodinamerica.com/statistics.asp
Unfortunately, in today's culture, truth is seen as relative and very few hold to the belief that there is absolute truth.
My belief is that the Body of Christ is strong and alive today and all the gifts are alive and working today.
Hebrews 10:25 tells us that the church is not to give up meeting together. Surely the Holy Spirit will lead the genuine seeker to the right place, the right body of local believers where it is "home" but I know many have given up on meeting together for various reasons. I did and am just now starting back to church but am not having regular attendance just yet.
The church--Body of Christ-- is all about Jesus but many of the postmodern churches have decided that people matter most.
-
Permalink Reply by Leonard T on
-
Colby,
I think we would be hard pressed to find one single item to be the complete cause. I think we can identify several areas of concern. I will list a few from my perspective:
1. Liberalism: We have a real problem when we take God's Word and relegate it to nothing more than the words of man and a somewhat accurate history book that is filled with exaggeration.
2. The slippery slope: When a generation withdraws from gathering together and from studying God's Word that generation's children will be effected even more. The withdrawing generation knows, for the most part, what they are pulling away from. Their children are exposed only to what the media portrays Christians as. More often than not we see the least desirables being expoused as Christian, like the group out of Tennessee that goes to the funerals of our young soldiers killed in action or the guy in Gainesville Florida who wanted to burn the Quran, among other antics.
3. Departing from sound doctrine: Why would we expect God to bless a group of people who go against His Word? One specific example is the ordaining of homosexuals.
4. Loss of focus: Why does the church exist? Amanda said it well, "The church--Body of Christ-- is all about Jesus but many of the postmodern churches have decided that people matter most."
5. The whole science versus religion debate when handled wrong by the church damages the churches image.
6. The church attempting to look too much like the world to attract the world. Our goal is to look like Christ and present Him to the world.
Note: Barna in the book "Seven Faith Tribes" identifies two tribes who identify themselves as Christian in the USA. 18% of the nation are fundemental in their beliefs while 60%+ of the nation call themselves Christian are part of a group of people as a whole who reject in part or all of the following. They reject that the Holy Spirit and Satan are real beings and reject that hell exists.
These are but a few points from my perspective.
Lord Bless,
LT
-
Permalink Reply by Gary Schultz on
-
Right on.
-
-
I often wonder if the decline is because we seem to live in a world that wants only to feel good about itself and believe that we should not judge others, you know the old lets hold hand and sing cumbia.
Believing the Bible to be Gods inspired word doesn't fit into this very well. Lets face it, God tells us we are all sinners. That's not a popular message anymore. God also tells us we will be held accountable for or actions and inaction, again not very popular.
I just read that most kids walk away from God in Middle School. This world is very tempting.
Just a thought.
God is soooo cooool.
Gary
-
Permalink Reply by Rita Cullimore on
-
Colby,
Back, when I was growing up, Church was a must. Most kids attended church, or at least Sunday School as faithfully as they went to school. That was part of our education. Shortly after I graduated high school, prayer was banned from schools. The day that one person was able to convince a nation that God needed to be taken out of school, our nation began to crumble.
As part of this crumbling, the churches began to crumble, as well. One has only to watch different programs on The History Channel to realize that, by what is explained to the watching public, is far away from what the Bible teaches.
The theologians in colleges are teaching many of the students wrong thinking. In turn, the newly educated minister is coming away with wrong views. They, in turn, are teaching the same things as their college professors have taught them.
I am not "tarring every pastor with the same brush". There are good pastors out there. There are some bad ones. I would even go so far as to say that there are many pastors who haven't been *born again*. They have entered the seminaries for a * job*.
The Bible tells us *to bring up a child in the way they should go and when they are old they won't depart from it*. Kids with no knowledge of God, grow up to be adults with no knowledge of God.
Madelyn Murray O'Hare effectively threw God out of our schools and eventually our nation. She, to keep her son from being educated about God, started a ball rolling that has continue to roll for the last nearly 50 years. We've turned from *must worship God to we will if we want to* attitude. There are many pastors that are using the ministry as a way to make a living. If one is watching, one sees the pastor with this mind set. The result is....
15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
-
-
Amen Rita,
We switched to our current church because of one sentence the pastor used. " Do not take my word for it. You should go home, read the Word, and if I have given false information you should call me on it".
-
-
Hi,
I think it is difficult to talk about a ‘declining church’ and bible reading and believing Christians in the same breath, where the same bible believing Christians don’t actually seem to understand what ‘church’ is.
So many appear to believe church is a building or a denomination. Church is actually nothing to do with organisations or buildings, it is all to do with people in relationship with other people under the headship of Jesus.
How then can we speak about ‘doors closing’ ? can doors close on relationships?
In the same way how can we talk about new churches ‘opening up’? There are no ‘new’ churches, only one church headed up by Jesus. There are new people being born into the Kingdom that may or may not become jointed into the church, the body, Be sad for those who don’t find the joints that provide life for them.
Until we put away all idea of buildings and denominations and start understanding Gods plan of RELATIONSHIP people will always cling to old architectural structures for security.
In the same way, until we dispense with mediators that ‘lead’ congregations from the front and start again to learn how to listen to Spirit with our own individual ears, ‘Church’ will always be led up blind alleys led by men and dead tradition. And in the end these dead traditions die as all things will that don’t drink from the fresh living water that flows from Jesus.Blessings to you.
Tim
-
-
Tim,
The Bible refers to church in two ways. There is the universal church, the body of believers world wide and the local church or churches, a body of believers that gather together in a particular location. The local church will also have non-believers in their midst during service in order to reach them with the gospel. The question posed by Colby relates to the local church and does not necessitate a building or denomination. Studies show that church attendance, the gathering of people, is declining in the US.
Lord Bless,
LT
-
-
Hi LT,
Your reply does in fact beg the question to what are they 'attending?
Whilst as you correctly say, local groups may have non christians in their midst, the non christians will not be part of 'The Church' they will simply be gathering in the same place as the church is.
Because I take a ride upon a london bus it doesn't mean that I am a London Bus, I am simply riding inside it.
A bad illustration but I am sure you get the point.
The Church is made of people 'jointed' together, Non christians can't be 'jointed' in this way to christians, otherwise the church would be a mixture. Non christians and christians can be together in a building but the two can never be jointed as in church or as in 'the body'.
Tim
-
-
Tim,
I made no such statement as to intimate that the non-Christians were a part of the church, but rather they gather with the church, will be in their midst, and hear the Word of God presented, if it is a good church.
Regarding the question that begs asking: They attend the gathering of the body of Christ.
Lord Bless,
LT
-
-
Hi again,
Thanks for the quick response.
Have you considered your own comment where you use the phrase, 'if it is a good church'?Did God create The Church?
Can God create something that is not good?
Therefore what is this church that you suggest may not be a 'good church'?
Are you not speaking about a building or an organisation rather than 'the church'?
There is only one church God made it and it is good. It is made of people.
Blessings
Tim
Welcome to
All About GOD
The Good News
Meet Face-to-Face & Collaborate
© 2024 Created by AllAboutGOD.com.
Powered by
