HOME | CONTRIBUTE A STORY! | ABOUT MMI | CATEGORIES OF INTEREST | CONTACT ME

image

By 2050, Only 10% of Americans will be in church on a given sunday…

Orginally published on Thursday, February 26, 2009 at 9:21 AM
by Todd Rhoades


According to an article in the Religion News Service: Booming megachurches might grab headlines, but the bigger story of American congregations is one of accelerating decline, according to David T. Olson, director of the American Church Research Project. Based on data collected from more than 200,000 churches, he projects that by 2050, only 10 percent of Americans will be in church on any given Sunday.

So... why is the American church in crisis? Olson says: The big problem is America continues to grow in terms of population, but the percentage of Americans attending church on any given weekend keeps declining. In 1990, it was 20.4 percent. In 2000, it was 18.7. In 2007, it was 17...

Some other questions/answers:

Q: Why is church attendance such a critical factor to measure?

A: Part of following Jesus is being connected in an authentic, consistent way with a group of Christians so that it’s not just an individualistic act. It’s a communal relationship with accountability. So when I see that percentage going down, it lets me know that the number of people following Jesus in that way is diminishing in America.

Q: Are certain types of churches faring better than others?

A: Yes. Since 2001 especially, mainline and Catholic churches have been experiencing severe decline. They are declining much faster than they were in the 1990s. Evangelicals are still growing numerically, but that numeric growth is not keeping up with population growth.

Q: What accounts for the decline that you’re describing?

A: Churches tend to stay pretty stable. So even though the community around them may be growing or be in transition with new people coming in regularly, churches often don’t notice those things happening and are pretty happy to just stay the same. From 1990 to 2006, there were 68 million new births in America and a net gain of 23 million immigrants, but churches a lot of times are really not looking outside their doors to think about how to connect with those new Americans.

You can read more here...


This post has been viewed 603 times so far.


  There are 5 Comments:

  • Posted by Phillip Gibb

    Here’s to hoping that a large percentage will be at least watching sermons - live, dvd or on the net.

    2050 is a long way off though. I pray that the trend is reversed before then.

    Phill

  • Posted by

    Given that other studies and analysis by research groups such as Barna have demonstrated consistently that less than 25% of the American populace can be shown to be soundly born-again and saved, I’m not surprised here.  Just look to the UK where they are saying that the quantity of people going to church there will be all but gone within the next generation or so.

    --
    CS

  • Posted by Home Accents

    So, what will the church do about that? will you guys create way to make people stick to religion? how? Interesting points.

  • Posted by

    Jesus said follow me and I’ll make you fishers of men.  It is documented there has been no growth in reaching the lost and unchurched in the USA for nearly 50 years.  One church’s loss has been another’s gain.  To put is simply, we’re swapping cleaned fish.  Until the church in American comes back to its mission, we’ll continue to decline.

    BC

  • Posted by

    It’s crazy to see how so many “so-call Christians” just stop attending church.  I even see some churches twisting the gospel like denying the existent of hell or even saying that Jesus isn’t the only way!  I guess the best thing we can do is simply keep attending church services and don’t lose that fire in our hearts.

  • Page 1 of 1 pages

Post Your Comments:

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Live Comment Preview:

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Please enter the word you see in the image below: