Liberal Churches See Drop in Attendance     5/2/2002

Liberal Churches See Drop in Attendance
‘Lack of Relevance’ Cited in Decline
By

An April 11 article in The Washington Times noted that church attendance in America has resumed the steady decline that began in the 1960s after receiving an upward “blip” following the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. The article cites a research paper by pollster George Barna entitled “Re-churching the Unchurched” in which he states nearly 100 million Americas are unconnected to a church.

Barna explains that “More than average, these are people who are aggressive, high-energy and driven. They have made something of themselves, by the world’s standards [and] they do not necessarily believe that God, Jesus, religion, the Bible, faith, or Christianity will help them overcome the struggles they face.

“Millions stay away,” added Barna, “because they cannot make the value equation work. When they calculate the amount of time, money and energy they would have to invest in a church, they do not see a reasonable return on the investment. Most of the unchurched figure they’ve gotten along just fine without the church for a long time, and until someone gives them reason to feel otherwise, they will remain spiritually unattached.”

The Times article quoted several other prominent religious figures who opined on the persistent decline in church membership and attendance:

Martin Zender, author of “How to Quit Church Without Quitting God,” questioned whether churches are offering what the average churchgoer is looking for:

Especially after 9-11, when all of a sudden, people were flocking to churches. All the denominations were giddy. But three months later, they are back out. People are looking for comfort and answers … The reason people are leaving church now is they have serious questions as to where their dead daughter is or how the world is going to end. Churches offer musical productions and food, but they are not answering the questions.

City University of New York professor Egon Mayer cited cultural factors as the most likely cause so many people are unchurched:

Family formation is quite connected with church affiliation. We have increases in the number of people living together without marriage, so you have a decline in the population of people marrying and forming families. Higher incidents of interfaith marriage also mitigates church membership. The more people marry across faith lines, the less apt they are to join a faith community because they cannot decide which one.

Popular Christian author Philip Yancy faulted Christianity’s followers for the decline: “Rightly or wrongly, they [the unchurched] see Christians rather as restrained, uptight, repressed.” In his book, “Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived the Church,” Yancy writes, “Although I heard that ‘God is love,’ the image of God I got from sermons resembled an angry, vengeful tyrant. I had nearly abandoned the Christian faith in reaction against this church, and I felt deep sympathy for those who had.”

Perhaps the most optimistic tone was struck by Mr. Zender, who concluded, “But people still want God [and] are circling the edges … They are fed up with the institution, but they don’t want to give up on God. But they are convinced Jesus Christ is in the institution so they are in a quandary. They see He is the answer but they can’t take the institution.”

DENOMINATIONAL LIBERALISM A FACTOR
Mr. Zender is likely correct that many potential churchgoers can no longer “take the institution.” The Christian denominations that have experienced significant declines in membership over the last 30 years have all replaced the historic Christian gospel with a “social justice” doctrine devoid of the essential elements of the faith. These denominations have erupted in fierce battles over the ordination of open homosexuals, the veracity of scripture, and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as Savior:

THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA). The PC(USA) has lost almost 2 million members since 1965 representing a decline of 40 percent. Congregations and Presbyteries are in open rebellion against established church law regarding homosexual ordination and their historic Confession of Faith. Recently, a Presbyterian court ordered a Florida church to rescind its endorsement of a confessional statement that affirmed Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation, the Bible is the only infallible rule of faith and life, and that sexual activity can only be affirmed in heterosexual marriage.

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH (USA). This liberal denomination has lost almost a million members since 1965 representing a decline of 26%. The takeover of the Episcopal Church by liberal clergy is so complete that African bishops — who are much more conservative than their North American counterparts—have been obliged to send traditionalist missionaries to America. Clergy who oppose the denomination’s liberal views on abortion, homosexuality, and the authority of scripture have found themselves under intense pressure from the national church to yield on these issues. Recently, the pastor of a small Episcopal church in Maryland was removed by court order for his failure to recognize the authority of the Washington diocese in matters relating to homosexual affirmation and female priests. The unquestioned standard bearer of the modern Episcopal Church is retired bishop, John Shelby Spong, who has called for a new reformation of the Christian church based on a total rejection of the fundamental beliefs of the faith. (Spong now writes for an online pro-porn magazine.)

UNITED METHODIST CHURCH. The UMC has lost two and a half million members since 1965, a decline of 24 percent. The denomination, with thirteen seminaries and almost a hundred affiliated theological schools, runs the largest seminary system in America—none of which are devoted to traditionalist Wesleyan doctrine. A school which teaches Wesleyan doctrine to the exclusion of other ideologies would not be accredited by the University Senate, whose guidelines state: “The United Methodist Church is theologically diverse; there is an expectation that UMC seminarians will be exposed to a variety of theological positions current within Methodism.”

Similar to other mainline denominations, the UMC is divided over the issue of homosexual affirmation. At the national level, however, the issue has essentially been decided. Essentially all church agencies and seminaries openly support “gay” rights. The Director of Recruitment at the denomination’s flagship UM seminary — Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington — is a leader in the UM homosexual inclusion movement.

BIBLE CHURCHES GROWING RAPIDLY
As membership falls in liberal denominations, churches that offer a more traditionalist doctrine are growing rapidly. Since 1965, the evangelistic Southern Baptist Convention has added nearly 5 million members to its rolls, representing an increase of 46 percent. The Assemblies of God has increased its membership fivefold and with 2.5 million members rivals the size of the Presbyterian Church (USA). A myriad of independent “Bible” churches have experienced explosive growth and have found it necessary to initiate expansive building programs. It is not unusual to find independent churches with a congregation in excess of 10,000 members and a sanctuary that seats several thousand.

Ironically, the leadership of the mainline denominations see that their policies are driving people out of the churches, but their commitment to the issues of abortion, homosexuality and religious pluralism far exceeds their allegiance to the historic doctrines of the faith. It doesn’t hurt that the agencies of most mainline denominations are bloated with rich endowments, company stock, and regular contributions from individual congregations.

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