For years, demographers and Christian commentators and podcasters have lamented the demise of the American church, postulating that the church was “going the way of the European church”. And for years, I have disagreed with them, though the statistics have reinforced their narrative. US church attendance has been in decline for two decades. US Bible reading has been in decline for well over a decade. But that is changing….
The decline in church attendance has been primarily in the mainstream denominations, especially in the less Biblical, more political focused church movements. My observation was that among US churches focused on proclaiming Jesus Christ and holding the Word of God in high esteem, growth continued, despite the cultural headwinds. It has felt more to me a skimming away the dross of cultural church attendance to refine the American church to a core of actual believers. Practically speaking, what has happened in the US church has helped clearly delineate actual believers from those who still need a relationship with Jesus.
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