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.
Agreed. The enemy has breached the walls of faith and is in the congregation. Churches have left their first love, who should be Jesus, in favor of politics and ‘social justice’. The Gospel has been compromised, watered down, and marginalized. When the church joins the world, the world loses interest in it. When it stands apart and speaks the truth, it becomes interesting because it is refreshing to people who are spiritually starved. When the churches figure that out again and there are great preachers again, there will be revival.