Church membership has dropped sharply in the last 20 years

I have come up with a different answer than you have done.

1. I would put the blame on the changing morals of the World which resulted in WWII,
2. the ease of obtaining prescription birth control,
3. the legitimacy of abortion as a choice,
4. the world wide outbreak of AIDS,
5. the acceptability of alphabetical sexual identification,
6. and finally the subsequent decline in the birth rate after the 1950's.

All of these things above were directly opposed to God and what He created. As a result, satan had a free hand to wreck havoc in the world, with the results that we see today.

pdudgeon said:

I have come up with a different answer than you have done.

1. I would put the blame on the changing morals of the World which resulted in WWII,
2. the ease of obtaining prescription birth control,
3. the legitimacy of abortion as a choice,
4. the world wide outbreak of AIDS,
5. the acceptability of alphabetical sexual identification,
6. and finally the subsequent decline in the birth rate after the 1950's.

All of these things above were directly opposed to God and what He created. As a result, satan had a free hand to wreck havoc in the world, with the results that we see today.

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You appear to believe that the prurient preoccupation of church leaders with sex as opposed to more important moral issues has nothing to do with the decline in church membership.

Speedwell said:

You appear to believe that the prurient preoccupation of church leaders with sex as opposed to more important moral issues has nothing to do with the decline in church membership.

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I think the prurient preoccupation with sex by church leaders is a meme that isn't totally accurate. But as a meme it has a lot of power.

Pope66 said:

A new survey by Gallup finds that membership in religious congregations is plummeting. Only half (50%) of the public report that they are a member of a house of worship — church, synagogue or mosque. This represents a precipitous decline over the past few years. In 2013, just five years earlier, nearly six in ten (59%) Americans said they were a member of a religious congregation. The drop marks the first time in the history of Gallup’s polling, which stretches back to 1938, that fewer than a majority of the public reported belonging to a religious congregation.The decline of church membership | American Enterprise Institute - AEI %
That decline has not surprised me anymore. I believe the reasons for this is the hypocrisy within the church walls, the bigotry, and as well as the unchrist like behaviour of Church leaders plus it not longer seen as being part of the greater good in society.

But for many of them that leave they have not chosen to abandon the faith. They believe in God but dont belief in priests and/or pastors.

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They have Facebook, YouTube, Google, hundreds of streaming TV channels, blogs, Kindle, a virtual library of articles online, etc.

There is preaching on YouTube. Some churches showed live video of their services online. There are Bible study resources and discussion groups online. All sorts of mission and charitable relief groups may be supported through online payment pages.

IMHO it is the absence of demonstrated supernatural power in the Church that is causing the declining interest in attendance.People are turning to the occult and witchcraft instead of turning to God. If you say supernatural in some churches they will be ready to burn you at the stake. But there was power in the first Church. Read the book of Acts. And you have a lot of people saying that all of this power has ceased.

I believe in my religion, and that religion has priests.

What now? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In fact, what I have heard most often from my religious leaders here in the west is not a disparaging of gay people, people who engage in premarital sex, etc. (these sources of claims of hypocrisy), but a reminder that what the secular world has decided is the issue of our time doesn't need to be the issue of our church.

While that might seem cold (I don't think it was meant as "don't care about gay people", but "don't get sucked into worldly thinking and worldly debates just because there's a strong pull towards that outside of the Church), we're kind of used to that separation by now, seeing as how it has been evident since the beginning of the faith, and a matter of good practice since the days of the establishment of monasticism. I believe it was Amma Syncletica, one of the Desert Mothers of 4th century Egypt, who said something like "Just as it is impossible to be at the same time a tree and a bush, it is impossible to be in the city and surrounded by its vain glories and to be holy." ("The city" in this conception was not the literal city -- i.e., Alexandria -- but an allusion to the worldly life more generally. Basically an ancient version of "If you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas.")

Handmaid for Jesus said:

IMHO it is the absence of demonstrated supernatural power in the Church that is causing the declining interest in attendance.People are turning to the occult and witchcraft instead of turning to God. If you say supernatural in some churches they will be ready to burn you at the stake. But there was power in the first Church. Read the book of Acts. And you have a lot of people saying that all of this power has ceased.

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And there has been too much faking of the gifts of the Spirit.

Handmaid for Jesus said:

IMHO it is the absence of demonstrated supernatural power in the Church that is causing the declining interest in attendance.People are turning to the occult and witchcraft instead of turning to God. If you say supernatural in some churches they will be ready to burn you at the stake. But there was power in the first Church. Read the book of Acts. And you have a lot of people saying that all of this power has ceased.

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I think cessationist theology has done a lot of harm to the church because it implies that God is no longer active in our lives today, and then people also start wondering if he was ever really active in our lives. Church is turned into a very passive experience rather than a faith that we *practice*. The practice of spiritual disciplines within Christianity is oftentimes ignored and/or forgotten, but God still does miracles TODAY, and God still bestows spiritual gifts through the Holy Spirit TODAY. God is always at work in our lives TODAY.

people have been looking for a reason to walk away from the church since the alleged "glory days" of American society. Darwinism gave society their first rationale to leave and they took it.

a religious culture steeped in racism at it's supposed peek has more and more melted into moral relativism. the American Christian Church has been a bastion of religious hypocrisy for generations and what's happening now is the chickens have come home to roost.

THE W said:

people have been looking for a reason to walk away from the church since the alleged "glory days" of American society. Darwinism gave society their first rationale to leave and they took it.

a religious culture steeped in racism at it's supposed peek has more and more melted into moral relativism. the American Christian Church has been a bastion of religious hypocrisy for generations and what's happening now is the chickens have come home to roost.

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I'm not sure I agree that people have been looking for a reason to walk away from the church, at least not actively seeking. People have such a huge yearning and hunger for God in their lives, even if they call him by some other name or even less personal such as "the Universe" or what have you. People want that relationship, they want to dig deep, and so when they can't seem to find it in "the church" (along with all the politics and the hypocrisy you mentioned) they will seek for it elsewhere. But that craving hunger is there. The church just really hasn't given them much reason to come back.

Pope66 said:

I believe the reasons for this is the hypocrisy within the church walls, the bigotry, and as well as the unchrist like behaviour of Church leaders plus it not longer seen as being part of the greater good in society.

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Bingo. When the Christian brand name in the US is known primarily for being against science and gays, it's not exactly attractive to younger people.

When churches start selling naming rights it might be a good indicator of where they have been heading.

bekkilyn said:

People such a huge yearning and hunger for God in their lives, even if they call him by some other name or even less personal such as "the Universe" or what have you.

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what you're describing is idolatry. man wanting a god made in their own image.

that's just romans 1 being played out in real life.

FireDragon76 said:

it's not exactly attractive to younger people.

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Perhaps it is time to go back and market Jesus as a super hero representing the forces of good from the counter-culture of Kingdom. Presenting Him as someone who would fit into this world is rather hypocritical and non-productive. Youth no longer accept more of the same ol' same ol' when it is obvious both sides within the world of man work in the same way. They like the third option.

THE W said:

what you're describing is idolatry. man wanting a god made in their own image.

that's just romans 1 being played out in real life.

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No, I'm not talking about idolatry. I'm talking about a real hunger people have in their lives for God, not for a god made in their own image, but for the Real Thing (tm). If they don't find him in the church, they are going to look for him everywhere.

bekkilyn said:

If they don't find him in the church, they are going to look for him everywhere.

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As they should. Better to find a follower who understands than one who accepts because someone told them so. The latter are the ones who do not understand the ways of the Kingdom and of God are opposite to the ways of man. They believe God is interested in our ways of doing things. Hardly. We are to seek God, not religion.

bekkilyn said:

No, I'm not talking about idolatry. I'm talking about a real hunger people have in their lives for God, not for a god made in their own image, but for the Real Thing (tm). If they don't find him in the church, they are going to look for him everywhere.

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I understand that's not what you're referencing. i'm telling you what's happening because it's what the scriptures have prophesied would happen.

if these people truly hungered for the True and Living God they would leave the hypocritical churches and establish solid biblical churches or at the very least find more solid biblical churches. that's not happening. they're dumping 'chistianity' altogether and going their own way.

THE W said:

I understand that's not what you're referencing. i'm telling you what's happening because it's what the scriptures have prophesied would happen.

if these people truly hungered for the True and Living God they would leave the hypocritical churches and establish solid biblical churches or at the very least find more solid biblical churches. that's not happening. they're dumping 'chistianity' altogether and going their own way.

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If the hypocritical churches are the only "Christianity" they have ever known, then what you're suggesting is an unrealistic expectation barring a "Paul on the road to Damascus" moment. If their hearts are sincerely seeking him, then God will know and recognize it regardless of where they are seeking him.

THE W said:

they're dumping 'chistianity' altogether and going their own way.

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If government policy influences society to drop any form of selflessness in favour of self interest, why would anyone see the churches which have taken that same path as government and society has, be seen as a haven from the world as it was meant to be. There must be separation to make it appealing. Jesus didn't go to the status quo but to the oppressed and offered an alternative, not more of the same. Church is not meant to be a place for the worldly to go to feel good about themselves.