The Great Dechurching
The greatest religious movement in the history of the United States has happened. And we didn't even notice. At least not until Covid.
40 million Americans who were previously active church attenders have stopped attending in the last 25 years. That’s 15% of our adult population. No denomination or segment of our population is untouched by this change. That’s a negative movement totaling more than every revival in US history.
Pastors Jim Davis and Michael Graham noticed the change in their area and commissioned a nationwide study. What they found is astounding.
“We’re living amid the largest and fastest transformation of religion in American history. ”
For the first time in the eight decades the Gallup organization has tracked church attendance, more Americans do not attend church than do attend church. A change began in the early 1990’s with the religious nones—those with no religious preference—growing precipitously each year. Since 1990 the Evangelical Lutheran Church has seen its attendance drop 41%, the Presbyterian Church (USA) dropped 58%, and the United Methodist Church fell 31%. The Southern Baptist Convention has seen a decline of 16% in the last 15 years.
We’ll consider more of these surprising survey results in subsequent posts. We’ll also consider what to do about it.
First, pray. Confess and repent for yourself and your church. Second, invite people to church. One of the most surprising results of the study: 51% of dechurched adults say they will return to church some day. There is hope. God is still sovereign. Jesus still saves all who come.