I recently read an article by Ed Stetzer, executive director of Lifeway Research in Nashville, who confirmed some of the things I have been mulling around between my ears the last few years.
The article says that he “sees good news in bad numbers,” and the news he’s referring is the percentage of people who do not identify with any religion in America. The percentage of U.S. Protestants has fallen to 48 percent while those who do not affiliate with any religion has risen to 20 percent. For the first time, those who identify as Protestants in America are no longer the majority.
Some would see this as bad news for the church. Stetzer and I disagree.
When I began at Dallas Bay Church in 1990, statistics said only 7.7 percent of the population did not identify with any religion and over 50 percent of Americans claimed the Protestant faith as their own.
The Protestant Church had tremendous growth for years. However, a lot of the growth was from disgruntled church members looking for another church where they were not yet upset with the leadership or direction of the church.
At Dallas Bay, we had some increase in membership from those who fit that category. Many of those people became long-time members and friends of mine. However, many others stayed only long enough to get mad at me and leave. During the time they were with us, they were rarely happy. They grumbled and complained and built calves out of gold. Well, maybe they didn’t build a calf, but I’m sure the thought entered their minds.
In those days it was necessary to affiliate with a church so you could advance in a career or solicit business. At one point, no one would attempt to run for the school board without a church affiliation. Now a church affiliation is more likely to keep you off the school board.
It is true that the church’s influence in our community has diminished. People are less likely to identify themselves as Christian just to get ahead. The lines are becoming more clearly defined – and I think that is a good thing. I feel more liberated than ever to preach the pure Gospel.
Most people attending church are doing so because they want to be there. They feel energized, challenged, convicted and motivated to live out their faith. They give to missions more generously. They attend more regularly.
I’ll to admit we haven’t had to put chairs in the aisles lately, but neither have we had Sundays where half the auditorium is empty. Dallas Bay no longer has 300 new members join each year as it did in the ’90s. We now average half that number in new members, but the ones who are putting their name on the dotted line are more likely to be here a year from now.
One last interesting note from Lifeway’s Research Center: The percentage of Christians who claim to be born again is on the rise. While there may be a “falling away” from mainline Protestantism, there is an increase of people who have a personal relationship with Christ.
Do those people complain? They sure do. They just gripe about different things. I have people who complain because I ended the message too soon, or others who think we don’t have a big enough emphasis on prayer; some think we should do more mission work here and abroad.
Hopefully, the church is more interested today in being a spiritual body than just a political or commercial enterprise. I’m glad it is no longer just the cool thing to be a part of the Christian culture. We can get busy with the eternal and not be distracted by the temporal. We can stop judging churches by the number of attendees and value them for their determination to offer God’s love and grace to the world – one person at a time.
Ken Duggan has been pastor at Dallas Bay Baptist Church in Hixson since 1990.