Actually one of the fastest declining churches in the West is the Roman Catholic Church itself. While it counts all the people it baptizes as members, even those who have converted to other denominations, the number of practising Catholics in the US has fallen from 80% in the 60s to 33% today. In Europe, Quebec, Argentina, Uruguay and Australia/NZ ... Read moreit is in the low double digits or single digits. The second largest religious group in America today are lapsed-Catholics.
If Rome wants anti-female and anti-gay ordination Anglicans have at them, but 400,000 new members isn't going to stop the tsunami of people leaving. Giving up sermons on environmentalism or politics, even if they directly relate to scripture and embracing "English" values isn't going to stop this on our end either.
Membership decline is affecting everyone from the Southern Baptists, to the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, to the Nazarenes to even some Pentecostal groups. Even the U.S. Mormon church is affected. It's part of a decline in overall social capital. Simplistic solutions and gimmicks aren't going to turn around decline. We should embrace generous orthodoxy because it's the right thing to do, not because we think it will lead to growth.
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toujoursdan
Oct 27, 2009
11:13 a.m.
Actually one of the fastest declining churches in the West is the Roman Catholic Church itself. While it counts all the people it baptizes as members, even those who have converted to other denominations, the number of practising Catholics in the US has fallen from 80% in the 60s to 33% today. In Europe, Quebec, Argentina, Uruguay and Australia/NZ ... Read moreit is in the low double digits or single digits. The second largest religious group in America today are lapsed-Catholics.
If Rome wants anti-female and anti-gay ordination Anglicans have at them, but 400,000 new members isn't going to stop the tsunami of people leaving. Giving up sermons on environmentalism or politics, even if they directly relate to scripture and embracing "English" values isn't going to stop this on our end either.
Membership decline is affecting everyone from the Southern Baptists, to the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, to the Nazarenes to even some Pentecostal groups. Even the U.S. Mormon church is affected. It's part of a decline in overall social capital. Simplistic solutions and gimmicks aren't going to turn around decline. We should embrace generous orthodoxy because it's the right thing to do, not because we think it will lead to growth.