According to a sweeping survey conducted by the Pew Research Foundation, the Christian population in America is sick, in fact, it’s dying. With such dire numbers, many are wondering if there is any hope for a revival in Christian America’s population. This paper will explore the statistics provided by the Pew Research Foundation and what they mean for America’s religious landscape. Then, a few of the reason’s for why there is such a massive change in the number of Christians in America will be looked at. These reasons will included data that was collected by Pew, and some insights from church leaders and religious advisors across the nation. After that, some of the various strategies Christian communities are using in order to fight declining membership numbers will be presented. Some of these strategies include more traditional methods, while others are much less traditional. Finally, an interview with Fr. Patrick Gonyeau of the Archdiocese of Detroit and Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament will be shared, describing his Cathedral’s strategy against declining membership and the revival that occurred in his congregation as a result. Along with Fr. Patrick’s experiences, the “new springtime” in the Church that St. John Paul II predicted is discussed. Will there be a “new springtime” in the Church or is the fate of Christian America sealed and its death inevitable?
The results from the Pew Research Foundation’s sweeping survey of America’s religious landscape included 35,000 American adults, and revealed some remarkable trends. Across America, regardless of race, education, age, gender, and geographical region, people have been leaving the Christian faith in an unprecedented exodus. Even places where the Christian faith has historically flourished, such as the Bible Belt, have experienced a decline in its number of residents claiming to be Christian, according to Alan Cooperman, director of religious research at the Pew Research Center and lead editor of the report being referred to (Cohn).
Across the nation, the Pew survey has found that from 2007 to 2014, the number of American adults identifying themselves as Christian dropped a staggering 7.8%. In 2007, 178 million (78.4% of the entire United State’s population at the time) Americans identified as Christian. Only 4 years later, in 2014, the number of Christians in America dropped by 5 million people, to a total of 173 million (70.6% of the entire U.S. population) Americans identifying as Christian. This drop in America’s Christian population is despite the fact that the overall United States population grew by nearly 18 million people between 2007 and 2014. This decline, despite a growing population, shows that even though with more people to potentially replace those leaving the Christian faith, the offset still isn’t enough to stop the continuing reduction of the Christian population.
Within Christianity itself and the various Christian affiliations, between the years 2007 and 2014, the landscape has changed dramatically as well. As a whole, the Protestant faith lost 4.8% of its share of the U.S. population. Within the Protestant faith, the Mainline tradition declined by 3.4% of the U.S. population, while evangelical Protestantism lost only 0.9%. Catholicism, as a single tradition (as opposed to Mainline and evangelical Protestantism), experienced the greatest decline of U.S. population share, dropping 3.1% in only seven years.
Not only Christianity, but religion in its entirety has been losing its share of the United States population. While Christianity experienced a net change of -7.8% of the total United States population, non-Christian faiths experienced a meager 1.2% growth of total U.S population. The non-Christian faiths that experienced the most positive change were the Muslim and Hindu religions, obtaining a 0.5% and a 0.3% growth in total U.S population, respectively. Despite the non-Christian faiths’ 1.2% growth equating to approximately 3,786,000 additional people now identifying with non-Christian faiths, it is described as “meager” growth because it diminishes in comparison with the amount of Americans now claiming to be unaffiliated with any religion. Between 2007 and 2014, the Pew survey found that the total percentage of the United States population claiming to be unaffiliated with any religion grew from 16.1% to 22.8%, a total 6.7% growth. This 6.7% total growth of unaffiliated American’s (known as “nones”) pushes the total number of “nones” to a staggering count of 55,860,000 Americans, bringing the religious population in America to an all new low.
With the fast paced growth of religiously unaffiliated Americans, it is not difficult to see where the Christians that are leaving the faith are going. When Pew conducted their survey, if a participant left their religion, they asked why they left. Other sources have sifted through this data and have offered their insight into what are some of the most common reasons for Christians abandoning their faith.
Answers in Genesis, a conservative Christian apologetics ministry, has offered their own insight into why young Christians, in particular, are leaving their Christian faith in such large quantities like the Pew study shows (Ham). Answers in Genesis, found that the single largest reason given for leaving Christianity was that the participants had a “lack of belief”. This sentiment was shared among 82% of atheists, 63% of agnostics, and 37% of people who believe “nothing in particular”. Answers in Genesis went through the raw data involving participants with a “lack of belief” in religion and compiled a list of specific reasons given by the participants:
- “Learning about evolution when I went away to college.”
- “Rational thought makes religion go out the window.”
- “Lack of any sort of scientific or specific evidence of a creator.”
- “I just realized somewhere along the line that I didn’t really believe it.”
- “I’m doing a lot more learning, studying, and kind of making decisions myself rather than listening to someone else.”
Through these answers, Answers in Genesis concludes that the major reason for Christianity’s decline in America is because young Christians are not getting “solid, Bible-based answers to the skeptical questions of this day”. Along with a lack of belief, Answers in Genesis, discovered other prominent reasons for Christians leaving their churches. One prominent reason was individuals general distaste for church itself. The participant’s sentiments were expressed with quotes such as:
- “I see organized religious groups as more divisive than uniting.”
- “I think that more harm has been done in the name of religion than any other area.”
- “I think religion is not a religion anymore. It’s a business . . . it’s all about money.”
What Answers in Genesis also concluded was that just because people were leaving the Christian faith, didn’t necessarily mean that they had ceased being spiritual. This mentality could help explain the 3.7% growth of individuals that believe “nothing in particular” in the U.S. population through 2007 and 2014.
Answers in Genesis, was able to derive some reasons why Christians are leaving their churches based on Pew’s research, but to back up the research, congregations across America have reported similar results, just in a less scientific manner. Their claims suggest that the decline in Christianity in America can be attributed to a broader cultural shift away from Christian values, rather than being able to place the reasons for the decline of Christianity in America in only a few categories. An article by Baptist News Global claims that the declining Christian population is a direct result of “doctrinal incoherence” (Brumley). The author claims that this “incoherence” comes from an extreme proliferation of denominations in America and that this has led to “Christianity for everyone”. The author states that this “Christianity for everyone” in the end carries very little lasting value and is particularly susceptible to social, political and even economic fluctuations. The article ends by declaring that the decline of Christianity that the Pew survey shows is only the tip of the iceberg. The author states that what is being lost is not Christianity itself, but an entire Christian culture.
Carey Nieuwhof, founding pastor of Connexus Church, offers insights into what America’s cultural shift away from Christianity may be attributed to (Nieuwhof). In a blog post, Carey attempts to identify what is prompting not only former Christian youth to leave church, like Answers in Genesis explored, but why Christian adults are attending church less often and eventually leaving the church. It seems that, to Carey, the path to eventually leaving church begins with attending church less often. The conclusion that lower church attendance equates to the eventual leaving of church is logical in nature, but Carey provides some specific insight into what may be causing the trend of diminished church attendance. The first thing that Carey blames is greater affluence throughout congregations. Carey says money gives church goers more options like travel and technology and that with these options comes distraction and the ability to inconsistently attend church. Another thing Carey identifies is parent’s willingness to give their children’s activities a higher priority than attending church. Carey gives a quote to express his distaste for this growing trend: “A growing number of kids play sports and a growing number of parents choose sports over church.” Carey also blames online access to church as a contributing factor to lower physical church attendance. While Carey acknowledges that there are “pros and cons” to online church, he makes the point that churches with a strong online presence, do indeed, see a negative impact on physical church attendance. A less founded reason Carey gives for lower church attendance numbers is what he describes as “the cultural disappearance of guilt”. Carey simply states that when he was younger, it was as a shameful thing to skip church on Sunday and that this is no longer the case. Carey fails to provided tangible evidence of why this statement is true, though. Self-directed spirituality is something else Carey believes is harming church attendance. Carey believes that people are looking to churches and church leaders less for insight and direction and instead are seeking it out themselves. Carey gives the example of searching a medical symptom online before going to a doctor. People figure they can find a better answer for themselves than what the church can provided and eventually don’t find a personal need for the their church any longer. A final factor that Carey has identified as disruptive to church attendance is the idea that members fail to see the difference between attendance and engagement. Carey states that the most consistent church attendees not only show up to church, but are engaged as well. All these things, according to Carey, are witness to what he calls “something deeper”. Carey claims that American culture is shifting “seismically”, and not in the way Carey and fellow pastors would like to see it shift.
With such a disrupting shift in America’s Christian communities, it’s no small wonder that the discussion of preventing the decline of church attendance and ultimately the loss of church membership, is a common subject in Christian leadership communities. As the fact that Christianity is declining in America begins to affect congregations across the nation, churches and church leaders have begun offering advice to mitigate the damage done by this societal change. Different sources are giving, naturally, different items of advice. Some of these pieces of advice conflict with one another, however.
Many church advisors suggest a “getting back to the” basics approach to the problem of lessening church membership. Much like Baptist News Global’s view that Christianity in America has diluted itself with a “Christianity for everyone” approach, these advisors claim that fundamental Biblical teachings will help cure attendance struggles (“4 Ways We Can Stop Church Decline”). One of the guiding principles suggested is refocusing evangelism efforts on people currently that don’t identify as Christians and ceasing efforts to convince people “church hopping” to join a different congregation. Another suggested principle is to develop a culture of discipleship within the church. Instead of simply baptizing a new believer and leaving it at that, the church needs to gather around the new member and help teach them how to be a disciple of Christ.
Along with more traditional tactics for encouraging church growth, some less traditional advice is being given to church leaders. Some of the less traditional ideas offered approach the situation of America’s diminishing Christian population in a more corporate fashion. In this sense, the Gospel is the church’s product, and the members are the church’s customers (Stigile). This view of the church’s role as a key to church health is sponsored by Ryan Stigile, Director of Strategic Resources for The Unstuck Group . Ryan puts it this way: “Church Attendance Decline? There’s a Problem with Your Product.” Ryan believes that the church needs to focus on conforming to the “customer” rather than the “customer” conforming to the church’s “product”. Ryan suggests that the church’s need to abandon the notion of building around the traditional benefits of Christianity and focus on what the church members actually value. Another guiding principle in Ryan’s strategy for mitigating dropping church attendance numbers is for a church to meet people on their own terms instead of asking people to accept the church’s terms.
With ample advice on how to stop the decline of church populations (and ultimately America’s disappearing Christian population), churches have been acting in ways deemed most effective in confronting the challenge before them. The respectable Fr. Patrick Gonyeau of the Archdiocese of Detroit and Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament was kind enough to share his cathedral’s experiences with membership loss and revitalization efforts. Fr. Patrick acknowledged that the Pew research numbers were indeed comparable with what the Archdiocese of Detroit has been experiencing many years now regarding declining church membership (recall that Pew showed a 3.1% decrease in Catholicism of the entire U.S. population). This decline in membership has led to many of the Archdiocese of Detroit’s churches to close down over the years (Sands). Fr. Patrick says that in order to combat even lower church membership, the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament has instituted a program called Alpha. Alpha is not a Catholic specific program, but is a program used by many different congregations across the world regardless of denomination. Alpha is a course that runs typically 11 weeks with each session exploring the big issues surrounding faith and discovering the basics of Christianity (questions like Who is Jesus? and How can we have faith?). Fr. Patrick claims that with the help of Alpha, the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament has actually experienced a rise in membership. After a person is finished with the Alpha program, Fr. Patrick says that if the attendee expresses an interest, the opportunity to learn about becoming a Catholic is made available. However, the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament’ primary goal with using Alpha is to orient new believers to Christ, first and foremost, and the Alpha course attendees are not pressured into pursuing a conversion to Catholicism. Fr. Patrick also gave a lot of credit for increased church membership to the Cathedral’s Evangelization Coordinator, who does a lot of outreach on social media and says that this has resulted in a “pretty good draw” from Detroit’s suburbs. Where Fr. Patrick truly puts the credit for the Cathedral’s recent revival, though, is in Jesus. Fr. Patrick stated “the key to Alpha’s success is Jesus, who is alive and transforms lives” and that “when we taste the goodness of life with Jesus, we come into a love that satisfies and yet mysteriously leaves us thirsting for more ‘blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness’ says the Lord!.” In Fr. Patrick’s mind, the natural reaction after going through a program like Alpha, is to seek for more “righteousness”.
Along with the positive results of Alpha, Fr. Patrick expressed his conviction that Christianity will experience what St. John Paul II called “a new springtime” in the Church. This “new springtime” refers to a common theme he expressed on several different occasions. One occasion was during an address St. John Paul II gave to the United Nations back in 1995 (Williams). Within the address, St. John Paul II, stated that “the tears of this century have prepared the ground for a new springtime of the human spirit.” Also, in his 1990 Redemptoris Missio, St. John Paul II penned “As the third millennium of the redemption draws near, God is preparing a great springtime for Christianity, and we can already see its first signs.” Whether or not successes like Fr. Patrick and the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament have experienced is evidence of a “new springtime” in the Church or simply a well executed program that’s producing positive results, remains to be seen. The immediate concern for Fr. Patrick and his fellow clergy is that the Cathedral remains healthy and continues to grow.
The numbers that the Pew Research Foundation’s religious landscape survey show are telling of challenges that Christian communities across the United States will face. Reasons have been given for why America’s Christian population has seen a decline in the past years, but it remains to be seen if churches will be pro-active enough to implement successful solutions to the problems they face. Not only are churches faced with the risk of mortally low attendance, but they must also decide on the means to address these challenges. Will they take a more traditional approach, or take the advice of a more corporately inspired advisor? Both have benefits and risks. Despite these hardships, though, some congregations have been successful. Fr. Patrick’s Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament is an example of how an active approach to declining church attendance can result in a positive outcome. Other congregations, unfortunately, haven’t experienced such results and have been forced to close their doors for good. Many are hopeful that the successes churches have, such as the ones Fr. Patrick has seen, will collectively amount to a “new springtime” for the church like St. John Paul II predicted, but others are skeptical Christianity can avoid the continued downward trend that Pew’s survey shows occurring. Time can only tell.
“4 Ways We Can Stop Church Decline.“ Crosswalk.com, Salem Web Network, 7 Nov. 2014, www.crosswalk.com/blogs/christian-trends/4-ways-we-can-stop-church-decline.html.
“America’s Changing Religious Landscape.“ Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, 11 May 2015, www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/.
Brumley, Jeff. “Christian Identity Crisis Drives Decline of American Church.“ Baptist News Global, 19 Jan. 2017, baptistnews.com/article/modern-and-ancient-christian-identity-crisis-drives-decline-of-american-church/.
Nieuwhof, Carey. “10 Reasons Even Committed Church Attenders Are Attending Church Less Often.“ CareyNieuwhof.com, 18 Mar. 2016, careynieuwhof.com/10-reasons-even-committed-church-attenders-attending-less-often/.
Cohn, Nate. “Big Drop in Share of Americans Calling Themselves Christian.“ The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 May 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/05/12/upshot/big-drop-in-share-of-americans-calling-themselves-christian.html.
Ham, Ken, and Avery Foley. “Pew Research: Why Young People Are Leaving Christianity.“ Answers in Genesis, 8 Sept. 2016, answersingenesis.org/christianity/church/pew-research-why-young-people-leaving-christianity/.
Sands, David. “Detroit Catholic Churches Closing, Archbishop Allen Vigneron Explains Restructuring.“ The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 Feb. 2012, www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/21/detroit-catholic-churches-closing-archbishop-allen-vigneron_n_1291225.html.
Stigile, Ryan. “Church Attendance Decline? There’s a Problem with Your Product.”TonyMorganLive.com, 23 Nov. 2016, tonymorganlive.com/2016/11/14/church-attendance-decline-problem-product/.
Williams, Thomas D. “The Springtime of John Paul II.“ First Things, 4 Apr. 2009, www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2009/04/the-springtime-of-john-paul-ii.