Well, not all of the church and not really 90 seconds.
Today, I read a blog entry by Diana Butler Bass from Monday July 20, 2009. Entitled “The Real Decline of Churches.” Here’s what she had to say about the Southern Baptist Convention.
The Southern Baptist Convention–the largest and most conservative Protestant denomination in the USA–records a continued decline in baptisms and an increasingly aging membership. The oft-reported number of 18 million members has declined in the last decade to just over 16 million. And, according to journalist Christine Wicker (see her book, The Fall of the Evangelical Nation), the internal number of active members may well be around 5 million people.
Here is a selection of what waits in store for folks in the Montgomery, AL area on their next Sunday visit in the Baptist arena. Of course, not all these churches are not Southern Baptist but they are Baptist in the South. There are others churches listed as well. These entries are as they were sent in to The Paper of Montgomery County.
East Side Baptist Church
- Here I Am and Here I Go
First Baptist Church
- Speaking the Truth in Love Ephesians 4:15
Friendship Baptist Church
- When We Leave Our First Love from Jeremiah 2:1-13
Freedom Baptist Church
- Sick of Home, Homesick and Home” from Luke 15-11-24
Other Churches
Wabash Avenue Presbyterian Church
- You Smell
Browns Valley Christian Church
- Life’s Difficulties Acts 21:17-32
and BTW: The Merry Mates Sunday School class will be having a class party after church.
Whitesville Christian Church
- Hero’s of the Bible
First United Methodist Church
- Second Chances 2nd Cor 5:17 & James 4:14
First Church of the Nazarene
- Wonder (Full) Bread from John 6:35-5
Possible Conclusion: No wonder the church is in decline. With a diet like this, they are most likely suffering spiritual malnutrition.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
yes they are in need of teaching .
So Baptist researcher J D Payne in his book “Missional House Churches” expresses the same alarm about his denomination’s trends. Seems like a good opportunity for the entire church in america to ask new questions, such as: “What would we do if we didn’t do what we’ve always done”?
Deconstruction of old paradigms of ministry is painful, but so is losing the next generations to the cause of the kingdom.
Sad commentary of the church, isn’t it!