Posted on 02/27/2010 11:00:09 AM PST by Between the Lines
“Contextualizing the Gospel in the New South.” That’s the title for this year’s Advance Conference, April 26-27 in RDU. Last year we called for a resurgence of the local church. This year we’re focusing on the major issues that are standing in the way of that happening here in the South.
The South is changing. Urbanization and the vibrant growth of our cities have transformed the cultural landscape. Cities like RDU have become new centers of business and education, places where culture is being formed and made. And yet as our cities are advancing, the church is shrinking. For the first time in its history, the church in the South is declining at a rate faster than anywhere else in the country.
See for yourself. This map shows you where evangelical Christianity is growing in the U.S. (Pink indicates growth. Blue indicates decline).
And this isn’t just a problem in the cities, either. These changes are felt in small towns, where small town southern values are clashing with new urban postmodernity, and religion is often more prevalent than the gospel. There may be churches on every corner, but most are plateaued or declining to the point where they will be empty in 20 years.
The extremely critical thing here is that this survey probably is including MUSLIM MOSQUES as a ‘church’. ERGO, the rise in the NE states.....
Hell! It isn’t just the NE states....Michigan, Callie, AZ, etc.......upper NW liberal tree huggers and ISLAM transplants...you betcha! More ‘churches’ [read Mosques] in these places .
CA: 0.0% = growth?
What the heck is RDU?
RDU == Raleigh-Durham International Airport
This map shows you where evangelical Christianity is growing in the U.S. (Pink indicates growth. Blue indicates decline).
OK, but what is "evangelical"?
I just finished reading D. G. Hart's Deconstructing Evangelicalism: Conservative Protestantism in the age of Billy Graham. After having written a history of 20th century American evangelicalism, he concluded that the category itself is pretty much useless.
“Must be all them Yankees and Northern tech-dudes...”
They are everywhere. I hear three NE accents for every southern accent.
I would suggest reading the book “revolution” to understand how Barna comes to these conclusions and why he believes this will happen.
It has to do with mainline denomination churches no longer being churches, but left-wing agitprop centers, and some small increase in Islam and fake Islam (Farrakhan).
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