It would benefit everyone (not just Christians) to reverse this. How do we begin to do that?
Pope Marx is not a plus at this point.
I blame Christian-light.
Luke 17:20-21
Oh wait....
Another church building just went up for sale in my town, but the new non-denominational ones that cater to families and kids are growing. Modern music, lots of activities, etc. Churches have always been part social club.
I think people are disappointed that churches now are moving away from traditions, and in to funky modernism. Sometimes it’s good to walk in to a church that takes you back to when life was simpler, and church was a dignified and comforting place. Rock ‘n’ roll bands, strobe lights, etc., don’t evoke positive feeling for many.
I joined my local church when I was baptized at eight years old, and have joined churches where we’ve lived after that. Now I’m not a member. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it; if someone wants to join, that’s fine. Still, I haven’t seen anything in Scripture that says, or suggests, that people officially must become members of a church. If/when I see that, I’ll join our church. We’re as active as any members, and we strongly support it in every way.
the effect is more severe among men. Just 47 percent now count themselves as church members,
Was asked to leave by the woman leadership...…………………...
Drive-thru churches may turn things around, though.
No doubt the despicable AllahPundit is quite pleased with this trend.
Anyway, one of the main factors is probably the same as why so many are turning to the extreme Left these days. You can’t have decades of indoctrination in schools and propaganda from Hollywood without a significant portion of people being influenced by it and passing it on to the later generations.
Then there’s the general problem that many people can’t be bothered to actually leave their houses to do anything in person.
It would be better if the various denominations were considered separately. Many of the mainline Protestant denominations have been shedding members for years as the churches turned further and further left.
Not at my church.
17 new Catholics will be joining in full Communion with the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil. This is just one church — mentally multiply that number!
Also Fist Communions will increase in a huge way — 150 new First Communicants.
That doesn’t sound like decline to me.
We had to expand our Catholic Church by 250 seats in an already 1500 seat church. We have 5 services and you will not get a seat if you are not 45 minutes early. Of course this is central Florida home to trump, Christians and American Patriots. 10 miles from the villages helps.
These stories are very deceptive. What is happening is the collapse of the Mainline (read Fakeline) churches that are falling apart after their abandonment of the Gospel and Jesus in favor of homosexuality, feminism, and leftwing ideology. The PCUSA, which I used to be a member of, has lost half of its membership since the 1990s. Why? Its embrace of homosexuality and homosexual “marriage.” Not to mention adultery and fornication.
You have 2 things happening. The nominal Mainline Christians just aren’t going any more. There’s no point, especially when you can have more fun watching sports on TV or just sleeping late on Sunday morning. Especially men, why do they want to be screeched at by some woman feminist “pastor” who can only talk about how bad men are and toxic masculinity?
The real Christians have abandoned the Mainline churches in favor of non-denominational churches, house fellowships and the like. These are actually growing fairly rapidly. A lot of these churches don’t keep “membership” in the way the Mainline denominations do.
The consequences of this trend are evident in the social decay, depravity, loss of respect for human life, the crime rates, the loss of simple patriotism or concern for country, the lawlessness, selfishness and ruthlessness that are now the norm. There was an overarching community narrative that ‘most’ people at least respected to some degree. That is gone now, and everyone does what is right in their own mind, regardless of anything or everyone else, continually (as in the times of the Judges in Israel). And no one even knows what that means anymore. Because nothing means anything. The libs have the country they wanted. It’s almost complete. What a damned shame.
This may help explain why a Catholic priest’s mention of “the body of Christ” this week somehow ended up being translated by the New York Times into “a statue of Jesus.”
And nobody ever has seriously questioned his lack of knowledge of the Christian faith or his obvious antagonism towards it while in office. (Just compare his proclamations regarding Christian holidays versus his ones on Muslim holidays. His Thanksgiving proclamations are the first ones in history where the President did not even mention giving thanks to God.)
Church membership is cruising along steadily for 60 years — and then, in 1998 or so, something happens.
This was the embrace of the homosexual agenda by the mainline churches, starting with the UCC and Episcopagans, and then spreading to the Churches of Christ, the liberal Lutherans and Presbyterians.
AllahPundit can barely contain his glee.
Collective religion e.g. Episcopalian, Catholic, etc. maybe falling off, bu independent and evangelical churches seem to be growing. At least that is what I see here in Maryland.
I’m in that group.Former Episcopalian ... need I say more?