THE DECLINE OF THE CHURCH
Last month I shared a recent poll that revealed a stunning explosion in the numbers of Generation Z declaring themselves to be not heterosexual, but LGBT. A recent Gallup poll found that the numbers of Americans who say they belong to a house of worship (overwhelmingly meaning a church) fell below the 50% mark - for the first time since the polling was taken. The number was 47%. Just two years earlier, the number was 50%. A 3% decline in two years' time. In 1999, a little over 20 years earlier, the number was 70%. Further, in 1937, the percentage was 73%. Thus, it held steady around the 70% mark for over 60 years, from the days when America was coming out of the Great Depression, through the Second World War, the 1950s, the social upheavals of the 1960s, the Nixon years, the Reagan years, and the Clinton years. And then came an unprecedented and precipitous plunge.
When one looks at the same phenomenon as it relates to age, the numbers are even more revealing. Of the pre-baby boom generation, those born before 1946, 66% belong to a house of worship. Of the baby boomer generation (born 1946-1964), the number is 58%. Of those in Generation X, the number is 50%. As far as millennials, the number drops to 36% - around half the number of the pre-baby boom generation. Generation Z was not measured - but if so we can presume the numbers would be no better - if not worse.
The polls reveal two dynamics at work. The first is generational. That means that the process of one generation aging out and the other replacing it - will continue this decline. But it's not only that. The numbers within each age group have also declined. In 1998 the oldest generation's membership in houses of worship was not at 66% but 77%. For baby boomers, it wasn't 58% but 67%. And for Generation X, it wasn't 50% but 62%. Every age group suffered a double digit decline. Thus, without the hand of God and revival, we can expect the decline to increase and accelerate.
Added to the mix is that the most recent survey did not account for, the added precipitous drop in church attendance caused by Covid 19 and the massive lockdown of churches throughout the nation.
Notice also, that the greatest plunge came in the years after 9/11. The biblical template in The Harbinger speaks of an initial shaking of the nation I the form of an enemy attack followed by a brazen turning away from God. We are now there. At the same time, this is exactly what the Word of God said would be in the last days, a great falling away. All these things bear much import on the future - from religious freedom to persecution to end-time prophecy. And it serves to remind us where we are, and the call to go all out with God and stand all the more strongly in the power of His might - the most challenging of days and yet the days that produce greatness. Let us commit, this month, to that greatness - by the power of His might. And may God greatly bless you as you do!
Your brother and co-laborer
