We are now in a post-Christian culture in the US. Here is some sample data provided by Mission Insites, what one might consider a strong Bible belt region, Argyle, Texas:
12.8% less people agree with the statement, “Jesus rose from the dead just as the Bible teaches”after the past five years. Five years. That’s a quick, dramatic shift.
9.1% more people agree with the statement, “Jesus was only a good, moral teacher- no more” in the last five years. This represents a shift in opinion of over 18,000 people in the region of approximately 200,000 people.
4.5% is the average increase of “Nones” over the last 10 years. An individual who marked “None” may not have left the faith, although many have, but no longer affiliate with a mainline, protestant, catholic or other religious designation.
Where does this lead? Our friends in Canada are ahead of us in this cultural shift and can provide clues to an impending reality in the US. We had the opportunity to spend a day with church leader, Carey Nieuwhof discussing this topic. Twenty years ago their community of 30,000-40,000 people had approximately 20 churches, now there are 2. The ELCA denomination boasted 5 million members in 1988 and projects to be down to 67,000 members by 2050. The Episcopal Church has seen a decline of 24-25% average Sunday attendance over the past 10 years.
It’s no longer an expectation to go to church, if anything, it’s turning negative in some pockets of our society.
So how are churches responding? It seems we are seeing one of three predominant responses.
Dig your heels in. Circle the wagons, shift focus even more inward to the church because the culture around us is falling apart. One denominational leader might suggest, “this is a purifying time, it’s okay the Church is in decline or maybe we need to have more babies”.
Bury our head in the sand. “Let’s keep doing what we’ve always done because that’s some alarming information”. This is certainly an easier path. One that leads to continued decline, aging and financial challenges. Doing the same things will not produce a different result.
Lean in, learn and respond. Some churches are becoming students of this new mission field. What questions are they asking? What are the essentials of church? What is it that only we can do? What are the unique needs a church can meet in our communities?
How are you or will you respond as a church?