NeoZine

Is the Church Declining?

For those who think the American church scene is a disaster unfolding, “Think again!” Ed Stetzer says:

Christians seem to love bad information. Bad research goes far and wide…Young adults are abandoning the church! The sky is falling! …I think we’re living in a season of self-loathing right now.¹

Those claiming 88% are leaving the church “never to return” admitted the claims were educated guesses, Stetzer says.²

Contrary to research claiming 4,000 churches closed and only 1,000 churches were planted, Stetzer says, “We think more churches were actually started last year than were closed.”

He cites U.S. Government statistics to back his claims:

According to surveys conducted between 1972 and 2006 by the General Social Survey, a biennial research project, church attendance among young people is higher than it was in the 1990s and no more than 10 percent below its peak in the early 1970s.³

Church attendance increasing among younger generations? His graph is impressive:

The Millennials (Generation-Y) are more “Christian” than their predecessors (individuals 30 and older), Stetzer says: ⁴

• More of them believe in the God of the Bible, the resurrection of Christ and the uniqueness of the Christian God.
• More are open to hear more about Christianity.
• Unchurched people in their 20s are closer to holding orthodox Christian beliefs. than their older counterparts.
• More say “there exists only one God, the one described in the Bible.”
• Their church attending has increased since 2000.⁵

How is this possible? He defies research from Hine, (see “Steal This Book”) McDowell (see the NeoZine article), the Barna Group (see article), the Southern Baptists, and even secular researchers!

Stetzer is affiliated with LifeWay, a reputable research organization, and he’s a (visiting) professor at Trinity Seminary.

Shoot Me In the Head!

Stetzer also contradicts his own research organization!

Even more astonishing, he contradicts his own book!

College students, numbering approximately 16 million, are one of the most significant and unevangelized people groups in North America. The battle for the souls of collegians grows more desperate each year. Research indicates that more churches are closing every year than are being started, conversions to other religions and dropouts from Christianity are escalating, and it takes on average of 85 Christians working an entire year to produce one convert.⁶

Tom Rainer, LifeWay’s president (and Stetzer’s boss) wrote a book subtitled, “Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts.”⁷ What will Stetzer say to his boss about the contradiction?

Then Stetzer shoots us in the head with out a bazooka!

“There is a turning against established Christianity [by the youth], who see it as a detriment to spirituality, not as a part of spirituality.”

This “turning against established Christianity” is well-documented on his own Web site:

But look closely at his stats, and a clear picture emerges: no, Church Institutions are not growing, but something very exciting is underway!  More on this later!

Footnotes:

1. Acts 29 Quarterly, retrieved 7/14/2009 [↩]
2. His source was Christian Smith from Notre Damne writing about evangelicals misusing statistics, not the primary researchers. [↩]
3. LifeWay Research finds unchurched 20-somethings more open than older unchurched, by Tobin Perry at the LifeWay Research Web site (retreived 7/13/2009). [↩]
4. Ibid. [↩]
5. See the Acts 29 Quarterly. [↩]
6. Battling for the Souls of Collegians, by NAMB Staff.  LifeWay Research Web, retrieved 7/20/2009. The article is quoting from Stetzer’s book, “Planting Missional Churches.” [↩]
7. Rainer spoke at the 2006 Xenos Summer Institute. [↩]

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Related posts:

1. Beyond Home Church Planting