These days, many have departed or disconnected from the local church. Some are burned out and some have just been burned by the messiness created by mean-spirited or misdirected church people. However, many other members and non-members are thinking in…
Children being raised in America today attend church far less frequently than their parents and grandparents did
Children being raised in America today attend church far less frequently than their parents and grandparents did, largely because their parents have stopped attending as adults. Gallup reports that more than a third of American adults have fallen away from…
Christians could be a distinct minority in America by 2070
If current trends continue, Christians will become a distinct minority in America and the “nones” will make up more than half the population by 2070. “Nones” are those people who when asked their religious affiliation reply, “none,” although most are…
This pastor wants to apologize to the ‘nones’
The church owes numerous apologies to the rapidly growing ranks of the religiously unaffiliated known as the “nones,” author, pastoral counselor and Baptist minister Thomas Rodgerson says. For starters, the term itself needs to be atoned for, even though it…
Largest-ever U.S. congregational survey confirms what church consultants have been telling you
For anyone who hasn’t gotten the message yet: American congregations are changing rapidly, and the old ways aren’t working. The kind of rapid adaptation seen in response to the coronavirus pandemic illustrates the kind of new thinking that will be…
A home for outcasts or a keeper of the ‘sacred timeline’?
Recently my family and I have been watching Loki on Disney+. For those of you unfamiliar with the world of the Marvel universe, Loki is the god of mischief and an archvillain of the Avengers. At the beginning of the…
Global study finds when religion seeks political dominance, the faith suffers
Christians intent on preserving the faith in the United States should abandon efforts to achieve political dominance and instead embrace pluralism to halt the church’s numerical and reputational freefall, said the co-author of a study published recently in the journal…
Experiencing God and engaging in social responsibility are keys to church relevance
For the first time since they began keeping track in 1937, Gallup found that a minority of Americans (47%) are now members of a house of worship. This wasn’t really news to anyone who has been involved in a church…
SBC loses another 435,000 members in 2020
The Southern Baptist Convention has lost 2.3 million total members — or 14% of its membership nationwide — since its peak in 2006. New annual data tracking key metrics for the nation’s largest non-Catholic Christian denomination was released last week,…