The State of Christianity in America

The state of the church in America was front page news today.  Pew Research released their most recent study on our nation's religious landscape.  The data compared church affiliation in 2007 with 2014.  It was a very comprehensive study; 35,000 American were polled. Christianity is still the predominant faith, with 70.6% of those polled claiming they were Christian, but that is a almost an 8% drop since 2007.  Protestant denominations had the greatest drop, almost 5%.  That translates to about 5 million adults walking away from the church over the last seven years.  We might want to credit some of the decline to people leaving for other non-Christian faiths, but that is not the case.  The percent of people claiming Hinduism and Buddhism as their faith remained consistent.  There was a .5% increase in the percentage of Muslims, but they still make up less than 1% of the population.  Where was the increase?  The percentage of people claiming to be Atheist doubled to 3.1%.  Agnosticism also grew from 2.4% to 4%.  The biggest increase was among the people claiming no faith in particular, 15.8% compared with 12.1% in 2007.  Pew Research labeled these individuals as "nones."   When you consider the way millennials are leaving the church, and the reality that the number of elders and baby boomers will continue to decline, there is no reason to think the trend will reverse.

It is easy to grieve over these statistics, but then the reality that Christianity is losing ground is nothing new.  If you take a count of the number of young people, roughly ages 18-34, in church on an average Sunday, the truth sets in.  But I, for one, believe the trend can be reversed.  It does mean changing our focus.  For too long many churches have been inwardly focused.  In the mind of many millennials, mainline churches are viewed more as social clubs.  Members enjoy the fellowship aspect of membership.  In my opinion, the solution requires a change in focus.  Dissolve the senior adult ministry and encourage the older adults to seek relationship with young people.  Turn the woman's mission society into an outreach ministry to millennials.  Initiate a mentoring program, linking older adults with teens and college students.  We cannot do it alone, but through the power of the Holy Spirit hearts can be changed and the trend reversed.