Mainline churches are declining, imo, because they are being so open minded their brains fall out.
Sarcasm aside, the essential problem is they no longer emphasize Sola Scriptura and Christ as The Way, Truth and Life.
What follows from that is the liberal social and economic policies we here at Free Republic disdain so much.
Don’t know if the United Methodist Church is considered “mainline”, but they are going that way, too.
A danger resides in stand alone evangelical churches: hobby horses, the danger of exclusivity, and some other problems. We in evangelicalism would do well to beware, even as we see the Christian churches of yesteryear go the way of the dinosaur.
>>Don’t know if the United Methodist Church is considered “mainline”, but they are going that way, too.
The UMC is considered mainline, and like all mainline churches, it has a problem. They need to attract the young adults, but young adults are confused. They want an all-inclusive, big tent atmosphere that accepts everyone for what they are and never judges or nudges. But, once they get inside, that type of church offers nothing in the way of spiritual guidance and it just becomes a social club for them. They want a huge church, with all the amenities, but don’t want to contribute money or time to make it happen.
Basically, they want a church with everything, as long as someone else pays for it and does all the work. They don’t want to read the Bible or listen to long sermons or to attend in-depth Bible study, but they want the full understanding from their first day. It’s just a reflection of what they want from everything in our sound-bite, special-effects, entitlement culture.
I’m heavily involved in the UMC’s ReThink Church initiative in my congregation and the contradictions between what people want and what they say they need are enough to make you want to give up. But I keep trying to figure out the balance and help create a place where people can come to know Jesus.