Leaving the Big Church Bus
I attended a conference in Seattle two weeks ago led by a guy who describes himself as an "intuitive futurist." His name is Reggie McNeal, and after working with hundreds of Christian leaders in a number of denominations, he believes the church as we know is ceasing to exist. He is not saying that God is giving up the ghost or taken an extended vacaction, but that the current institutional shape of congregations will have a more limited role in what the Holy Spirit is up to in coming years.
One statistic he shared supports his assertion that we are in the midst of a spiritual change as large as the Protestant Reformation if not larger. Spirituality remains significant in this country, but the number of people in each generational grouping to affiliate officially with organized churches is heading for the sub-basement. Here are his statistics:
Generational Percentages Connected To Churches
Seniors (born before 1925) 60+
Builders (1926 - 1945) 60+
Boomers (1946-1964) 42 - 44
Gen X (1965 - 1983) 18 - 22
Millenials (1984 - 2000) Less than 10
McNeal didn't site his source and I have yet to track it down, but if it is true, this is huge... ozone hole huge... for those thinking hard about faith.
Your thoughts on the cause of this rapid drop? Your ideas on what God is up to or how we might engage?
posted by Kevin Finch @ 8:55 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I don't know what to do about it. There does seem to be a whole lot of 're-arranging the deck chairs' speaking from an Elder's point of view.
It would be easy to place the blame in several areas – builders and boomers unwilling to accept the changing face and sound of society and how we now relate and learn, youth who are bombarded with messages of instant gratification versus building longstanding relationships (even with God) over time, the ever growing isolation of people from one another as e-mail and text messaging make it possible to communicate without speaking or seeing other people, and so on. Who knows what the real root cause is.
Here’s my view – I wonder what the statistics were forty years ago. Perhaps it’s simply that as people grow older we seek connection in our faith through churches and community. Would the statistics have been about the same forty years ago with Boomers (then in their youth) having a very low connection rate? Probably. As they’ve aged, they’ve become more connected and by the time they are the age of the Builders and Seniors, they may have a 60+ connection rate with Gen X having a 42-44 connection rate. We’ll have to wait and see.
One thing I know is that we will see churches change more and more as Boomers and Gen X take over the leadership of our churches from Seniors and Builders. Traditional services will be replaced and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Churches that are resistant to the changes that future generations will bring are the ones that will wither and die. Those that are open will evolve and grow. I believe the Holy Spirit is actively working among the Gen X and Millennial generations. We just need to let Him move and be open to the changes that are to come.
I think it's as simple as what miss chievous said: as we grow older we seek out to either rediscover our faith from when we were taken to church as children, or we simply realize the need for a spiritual connection, not only with the Lord and our church, but with the community as well.
I would also be interested in the stats, not from 40 years ago, but maybe 20. Did this "futurist" present any stats from past decades, or generations? My suspicion is that they would not be much different: when we are younger, into our 20's and 30's, we tend to expirament with different beleif systems and philosophies. I know I did, but I always had this underlying feeling that I was missing something, more like the "boat". Eventually I was led back to my faith by an old high school friend I had not heard from in years. Plus I would bet that these stats are probably skewed to some degree by parents not counting for their children who attend church with them, regardless of the childs age.
Anyway, there will always be change and I think it wise for any church to accept the changes and be a facilitating partner to the communities that are going through and experiancing change.
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