Church attendance is declining in almost every community; it is NO EXCUSE but many pastors are so desperately trying to hold on to each and every member that they are tolerating all sorts of vices, lest the offend anyone.
When there is no preaching of the Law there can be no Gospel!
The evangelical churches, like mine, are booming. It’s churches like the Episcopals and the “liberal” or progressive churches that are falling off badly, for the most part. People are looking for something to fill that God-shaped hole in their souls. When they find Him, they fill it. Churches that preach liberation theology or leftie politics can’t provide what folks want.
I dunno about most churches, but the LCMS church that I’ve been a vicar to for the last year has been growing ever since I arrived there. And we make sure that both Law and Gospel are going full blast.
Honestly, from the comments I’ve had after the services, people are responding to that. They’re lapping it up. They WANT to hear the Law, and they WANT to hear the Gospel too, because they’re both the Word of God. You leave either of those out, and you’re not preaching the Word, you’re preaching human ‘wisdom.’
Anyways, I hope this means that churches will wake up soon. Being ‘tolerant’ of sinfulness is just going to make them collapse faster.