Posted on 04/21/2019 5:20:36 AM PDT by Kaslin
One often hears dire reports in the media about the impending doom of the Christian church. But Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family recently wrote an article in the Federalist that showed such reports may be premature.
Stanton notes, “Religious faith in America is going the way of the Yellow Pages and travel maps, we keep hearing. It’s just a matter of time until Christianity’s total and happy extinction, chortle our cultural elites. Is this true? Is churchgoing and religious adherence really in ‘widespread decline’ so much so that conservative believers should suffer ‘growing anxiety’? Two words: Absolutely not. New research published late last year by scholars at Harvard University and Indiana University Bloomington is just the latest to reveal the myth.” [emphasis his]
Stanton is summarizing the research of Landon Schnabel of Indiana University and Sean Bock of Harvard University from their article in Sociological Science. They write, “Recent research argues that the United States is secularizing, that this religious change is consistent with the secularization thesis, and that American religion is not exceptional.”
But their own research leads them to deduce otherwise: “We conclude that intense religion in the United States is persistent and exceptional in ways that do not fit the secularization thesis.”
I interviewed Glenn Stanton on my radio show recently on this subject: Is the American church dying?
He told me, “You hear that everywhere, and you even hear it in the church from good Christian speakers, leaders, and pastors. They say that young people are leaving the church in droves, and there may not even be a Christian church in America in the next couple of years. And it’s just simply not true.” [emphasis his]
Stanton is the author of eight books, and he has a new one coming out soon, called, The Myth of the Dying Church, with a Foreword by Baylor’s Byron Johnson.
Stanton said the research shows that, “far from dying, “the best parts of Christianity (biblical Christianity, or what C. S. Lewis called ‘mere Christianity’) are growing in the United States and just blossoming around the world.”
He said the key is to understand the difference between the mainline churches (the older and now generally more liberal churches---and the evangelical, Bible-based churches). The former are in “freefall,” with members leaving en masse. But that’s because these churches have “long abandoned the basics of the Christian faith.”
The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 that the essence of Christianity is that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures; He was buried; and on the third day, He rose from the dead, according to the Scriptures.
Paul even says about these basic truths, “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.” This is a good thing to be reminded of at this Easter time.
Yet, Stanton notes, many of the more liberal Protestant churches and their leaders have long abandoned these basics of the faith. They have also compromised on biblical morality (e.g., sexual issues, including abortion). These are the churches in America that are dying.
Stanton told me, speaking of these liberal churches, “They are bailing on the basics of Christianity, and, guess what? People are bailing on them. People are leaving those churches as if the buildings are on fire, and do you know where they are going? They are not going nowhere. They are going to the biblically faithful churches, and those are the churches that are growing. So basically what we have here is a great, great good news story. Yes, some parts of Christianity are declining, but those are the people that are compromising the faith. They might as well become Unitarians or something like that.”
I remember reading that only 20 percent of modern day Unitarian Universalists even call themselves Christians. Why pretend?
Jesus said to the professing Christians of Laodicea, “I would that you were hot or cold, but because you are lukewarm, I will spew you out of My mouth.”
In his article for the Federalist, Stanton observes, “The percentage of Americans who attend church more than once a week, pray daily, and accept the Bible as wholly reliable and deeply instructive to their lives has remained absolutely, steel-bar constant for the last 50 years or more, right up to today.”
Stanton adds, “The number of church attendees has continued to rise each and every decade over our nation’s history right up until the present day.”
So, as has been said, “The good news is: the bad news is wrong.”
True Christians are taking the time to worship the crucified and risen Christ.
He is risen. He is risen indeed.
Jerry Newcombe, D.Min., is an on-air host/senior producer for D. James Kennedy Ministries. He has written/co-written 31 books, e.g., The Unstoppable Jesus Christ, American Amnesia: Is American Paying the Price for Forgetting God?, What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? (w/ D. James Kennedy) & the bestseller, George Washington's Sacred Fire (w/ Peter Lillback) djkm.org @newcombejerry www.jerrynewcombe.com
A church building can be full and still be emty in spirit. Rev18 :2
She has Become the dewelling place of every unclean spirit.
Paul tells believers not to even eat with adulterers yet most churches
not only has sodomites in the congregation but many in the clergy, Paul
tells the Corinthians to get them out of the church.
The church is dying and been given over to every unclean spirit.
Fourth Presbyterian Church, in the rock-ribbed, conservative, Bible-belt town of Bethesda, MD, is doing fine as well.
You are absolutely correct! The Sunday I was given a sermon in an episcopal "church" on the positive aspects of abortion was my last day in that church. I have no less faith, but supporting an organization that has become nothing more than a corporation that is mostly concerned with the bottom line is NOT religion.
bump
You are delusional. Including the Roman Catholic Church with Mormons and JW’s? That is truly evil. You may not agree with everything in the RCC, but they confess the Nicene Creed at every service, which is the foundational Confession of Christians everywhere. Don’t bother to reply. There is no reasoning with a mindset such as you display.
God gave us the best church leader in PAUL. It was departure from his “my gospel” that railroaded us. The answer is not in the early church, which was already in the process of turning away from the one Jesus Christ CHOSE to lead us. The answer is in his letters, where sound doctrine IS found, and where the revelation of the mystery—Christ in you, the hope of glory—is found.
https://www.buzzardhut.net/Catho/
Don't take the Mark.
Article asks..”Is churchgoing and religious adherence really in ‘widespread decline’?...............
Of course and the true believers are slowly heading underground...just as He said would occur. Many of the Emmergent Evangelical Assemblies are all about ‘feeling’ and ‘spirituality’ but this does not mean they are Christian. And Islam boasts of huge growth so it’s not a question of growth.
Christianity is not based on any church you attend. It’s where believers in Jesus Christ gather together...who have understood the Gospel message of Salvation in, of and through Him.
It is fruitless to argue about churches as people will choose where they want to go.....if they get in the wrong one He will lead them out IF they truly are seeking Him and His truth.
(Wow, well, there are now TWO of us! :-)
I have a Malinois greeter, they don’t come by my house often.
I sure feel less intelligent after reading that!!
in short it has become arm of dnc/rino party
Our church is growing so fast the pastor cannot give enough services. It is a through the Bible fundamental church in a liberal town.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.