We have a problem. There is an irreconcilable contradiction in the modern evangelical church. It is a contradiction that cannot be ignored, dismissed and doubled down on any longer for the sake of the church but also for the the sake of the glory of God and the health of the bride of Christ.
For the past half century there has been a movement to make the church more “relevant.” However, if one was to look at the studies done by Barna and Pew Research among others, if we are honest we would recognize that the church has not become more relevant but it has become more irrelevant despite hundreds of millions of dollars, conferences, books, magazines, podcasts, television shows and all manner of marketing. The raw truth is that despite all our efforts, more people are walking away from the church and are either dismissive or antagonistic to the church than ever before in America. Here are a few numbers from these studies to show what I mean. Where possible I will compare data from the mid 1970’s where this trend began to today. Otherwise available historical data will be used.
According to the Gallup organization, in 1971, 90% of Americans identified with a Christian religion, in 2021 that number fell to 69%. Over a 20% drop! In 1971, 6% had no religious preference, in 2021, that number rose to 21%. 47% of Americans in 2021 were church members, as late as 1999, that number was 70%. Gallup research
In Pew Research telephone polls in 2018 and 2019, 65% of adult Americans described themselves as Christian. This is down 12% in 10 years. Those who describe themselves as “atheist,” “agnostic” or “nothing in particular” rose in the same period to 26% from 17%. 43% identified themselves as protestant, down from 51% a decade ago. The following chart tells the story pictorially. Pew Research
In March of 2020, the Barna group said, “In essence, the share of practicing Christians has nearly dropped in half since 2000” noting that only 1 in 4 Americans is a practicing Christian. They go on to say that about half of those moved into a “non-practicing Christian” category while the other half moved into a “non-Christian segment.” They also note that 36% fewer Americans attend church weekly than in 1993. Barna Research
There is an often quoted anecdote about an older member of the church talking to another church member and he says, “I don’t care for the loud music at all but if it helps bring in the younger generation, I’m all for it.” The problem is that it is not bringing in the younger generation. Generationally, the younger the person in America, the more apathetic or antagonistic they are to the church despite the culturally relevant reaches made by the church.
The evangelical church made a shift in the mid 1970’s. There were likely others but one of the most notable evangelicals to lead this shift was Bill Hybels and Willow Creek. This was the shift from the traditional evangelical church to a church that met people where they were and was intentionally more relevant to their everyday lives than the traditional church. Ironically, though Hybels was a pioneer in this shift it was probably more those who copied his methods that took the shift to a greater extent than I expect Hybels had intentioned. While Hybels took the Sunday service to a culturally relevant, high production value event designed for those outside the church, he did not abandon the believer’s service. Rather he moved that service to Wednesdays and Thursdays. Many other churches who adopted the “seeker service” were not so intentional and adopted only the seeker service.
“Seeker services” became the model. Different churches varied in their degree and approach to the “seeker” model. Some churches moved to a dominant cultural model and became “seeker driven” churches. In these churches you may find secular music and certainly the service was driven by attracting and engaging those outside the church. Some churches adopted more of a “seeker sensitive” model where the church did not embrace secular culture as much but geared the service in a way to engage and not offend the outsider. There was a spectrum on the attractional church or seeker model but each had a focus on what they would consider the “unchurched” and each represented a departure from what would have been considered the traditional church.
There is a mountain of information written and spoken about by church growth experts in an attempt to attract people to the church. In the short term there may have been some success but in the larger picture to use an old analogy, we may have won the battle but we are losing the war. I would contend that not only have these church growth strategies been ineffective but they cannot overall be effective because we are aiming at the wrong target. In future posts we will look more deeply at the problem and we will also look toward a solution. For now let’s just say that we need to get back to the true nature and purpose of the church. At the core of the problem is that we have redefined church to something that can never be effective. But more importantly, we have redefined church to be something it was never intended to be.
Prologue
Relevant?
Defining Church
The Purpose of the Church
The Radiant Bride
Worship
Worship in the Church
Holy Huddle