The reasons for why churches are declining in America started in the 1950’s when the generation born after the Greatest Generation from World War II had more money, valued personal freedom including the right to question everything and make up their mind on
things like authority, government, spirituality, social justice, and personal finance. They trained their children to be independent thinkers who could take advantage of the new middle class that had more time and more money than any other generation.
The Greatest Generation from World War II raised their children differently than the Baby Boomer Generation regarding expectations about family, work, and church. That difference is a result of the culture shift that happened starting in the 1950’s all the way to today. We saw great social and civil unrest in the 1960’s and 1970’s seeking equal rights for women and Black Americans. That shift extended to equal rights for people of color (non-whites), LGBTQ, and now we’re struggling with what rights we should assign to gender identity that is different from our traditional male/female model.
The social and civil unrest created a distrust of government, big corporations, and institutions. The social unrest also created a desire for equal opportunity in the workplace and a broader social net. The Baby Boomer generation embraced the idea of being independent thinkers and to question everything. We instilled that value into our children.
We trained our kids to be liberal, independent thinkers who challenge everything and make up their own mind. Congratulations, we succeeded! It’s no wonder there are so many people seeking spiritual fulfillment outside of the church!
Consider other changes we have made in our culture that impact church attendance on Sunday morning. We used to have blue laws that required stores, restaurants, and bars to close at certain times and Sunday morning was one of the times that was protected for a long time. Then we let stores open on Sunday morning. We allowed restaurants to open on Sunday morning to offer Sunday brunch. Next we let bars, night clubs, and entertainment districts stay open extra late on Saturday and open early on Sunday. Why go to church when you can go shopping, eat out, or even visit a bar?
We allow youth sports practices and games to be played on Sunday morning, sometimes starting as early as 6:00 am! We have accepted that professional sports can start earlier every year so that instead of having dedicated time on Sunday for church, we have games that start before Noon on a regular basis. Now we’re seeing games in other countries broadcast early on Sunday morning. We’re broadcasting live events from across the world that make us want to stay home and watch the sport of our choice rather than go to church.
The list goes on how we’ve compromised time that used to be dedicated to God. Sunday is open to any number of activities that we can enjoy instead of spending our time in church. We’ve filled our calendars through the week with evening activities for our children and adults, committed our Saturdays for activities including sports, dance, gymnastics, academic tournaments, and we’ve made our day of rest a day of activity. We can go hiking, biking, skating, canoeing and any number of indoor or outdoor activities.
Our churches are shrinking because we’ve allowed it to happen! We can’t reverse the decisions we’ve made. The only thing we can do is find creative ways to engage our population to explain why they need God in their lives and how the Holy Spirit can lead them to be healthy, productive, successful contributors to society while still having all the fun and recreation that we expect from modern day society.
Instead of bemoaning how our churches are shrinking, we need to proclaim the Good News and make people excited about having God in their lives.
(Image from https://churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/283648-7-suggestions-church-decline-ron-edmondson.html)
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