Repost: Churning Churches

By DAVID VAN BIEMA Mon Feb 25, 5:35 PM ET

A major new survey presents perhaps the most detailed picture we've yet had of which religious groups Americans belong to. And its big message is: blink and they'll change. For the first time, a large-scale study has quantified what many experts suspect: there is a constant membership turnover among most American faiths. America's religious culture, which is best known for its high participation rates, may now be equally famous (or infamous) for what the new report dubs "churn."
The report, released today by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, is the first selection of data from a 35,000- person poll called the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. Says Pew Forum director Luis Lugo, Americans "not only change jobs, change where they live, and change spouses, but they change religions too. We totally knew it was happening, but this survey enabled us to document it clearly."

According to Pew, 28% of American adults have left the faith of their childhood for another one. And that does not even include those who switched from one Protestant denomination to another; if it did, the number would jump to 44%. Says Greg Smith, one of the main researchers for the "Landscape" data, churn applies across the board. "There's no group that is simply winning or simply losing," he says. "Nothing is static. Every group is simultaneously winning and losing."

For some groups, their relatively steady number of adherents over the years hides a remarkable amount of coming and going. Simply counting Catholics since 1972, for example, you would get the impression that its population had remained fairly static - at about 25% of adult Americans (the current number is 23.9%). But the Pew report shows that of all those raised Catholic, a third have left the church. (That means that roughly one out of every 10 people in America is a former Catholic, and that ex-Catholics are almost as numerous as the America's second biggest religious group, Southern Baptists.) But Catholicism has made up for the losses by adding converts (2.6% of the population) and, more significantly, enjoying an influx of new immigrants, mostly Hispanic.

An even more extreme example of what might be called "masked churn" is the relatively tiny Jehovah's Witnesses, with a turnover rate of about two-thirds. That means that two-thirds of the people who told Pew they were raised Jehovah's Witnesses no longer are - yet the group attracts roughly the same number of converts. Notes Lugo, "No wonder they have to keep on knocking on doors."

The single biggest "winner," in terms of number gained versus number lost, was not a religious group at all, but the "unaffiliated" category. About 16% of those polled defined their religious affiliation that way (including people who regarded themselves as religious, along with atheists and agnostics); only 7% had been brought up that way. That's an impressive gain, but Lugo points out that churn is everywhere: even the unaffiliated group lost 50% of its original membership to one church or another.

The report does not speculate on the implications of its data. But Lugo suggests, "What it says is that this marketplace is highly competitive and that no one can sit on their laurels, because another group out there will make [its tenets] available" for potential converts to try out. While this dynamic "may be partly responsible for the religious vitality of the American people," he says, "it also suggests that there is an institutional loosening of ties," with less individual commitment to a given faith or denomination.

Lugo would not speculate on whether such a buyer's market might cause some groups to dilute their particular beliefs in order to compete. There are signs of that in such surveys as one done by the Willow Creek megachurch outside Chicago, which has been extremely successful in attracting tens of thousands of religious "seekers." An internal survey recently indicated much of its membership was "stalled" in their spiritual growth, Lugo allowed that "it does raise the question of, once you attract these folks, how do you root them within your own particular tradition when people are changing so quickly."

The Pew report has other interesting findings; the highest rates for marrying within one's own faith, for example, are among Hindus (90%) and Mormons (83%). The full report is accessible at the Pew Forum site. View this article on Time.com

Fear Is Good

This comes from Mike Pink. I hope you enjoy.


There are many identifiers of true humility, but one which is often overlooked is prayer. When we don't pray, we are saying in effect, "I can handle this myself." When we do pray, we are acknowledging our lack of ability and/or lack of trust in that ability and asking for God's influence, help, and aid in the situation. The more capable you are, the more you better learn to depend on God, or you will set yourself up for a fall.

One way to do that is to always be stretching beyond your comfort zone, beyond your known abilities and into that area where fear rears its ugly head. If you are not facing down fear, you are probably not attempting very much. If fear is paralyzing you right now, you are quite close to deliverance. You are entering the faith zone, where you must walk by faith and not by sight.

Get up a little earlier just to spend time with the Father. Read His word and then just get a pen and paper and listen. Write down the thoughts He gives you and obey. This is called listening prayer. So much of our prayer time is us telling God stuff He already knows and asking Him for things or favor, etc. But what He wants to give us more than anything is Himself, His presence, His love. He wants us to cognitively experience Him. Train yourself to be quiet and wait upon the Lord. How long should you wait? Until you experience His mercy (favor, grace) (Psalm 123:2)

In the end, you will find new strength, mount up with wings like an eagle and soar. When you run, you will not be weary and when you walk, you will not faint. (Isa 40:31)

A site that really echoes my beliefs

Here's a site I stumbled on that really resonates with my heart on the topic of religion. See what you think.

http://www.theschoolofchrist.org/articles/churchianity.html


Here's an excerpt...

We must always be sure to distinguish between the Lord's invisible, universal, spiritual Church (the Ecclesia) and the non-profit religious organization that meets in a building with a steeple on top. The difference is incalculable, and we dare not make the mistake of confusing the two. Please understand that we do not question the right of any religious group to peaceably assemble together, elect their leaders, receive monies, have membership requirements, and govern themselves in the manner they see fit - as long as we realize that such a right is a civil right and is neither inalienable, Scriptural, or mandated by God Himself. That doesn't make it wrong, but neither does it make it spiritual. The Ecclesia is not an organization or invention of man, but an organism filled with the Life, and whether we worship "in Jerusalem or in this mountain" is not as important to God as whether or not we worship Him "in Spirit and in Truth."

So where is the distinction? What makes it an issue? It becomes an issue when spiritual or Scriptural significance is erroneously attached to a mere social contrivance, cultural norm, religious tradition, organizational structure, or place of meeting. When the waters are muddied and the lines are blurred between the social expectation, tradition, or custom of the religious organization and the true spiritual life and essence of the Ecclesia or the individual believer then such a system has the potential to evolve into a dangerous form of spiritual abuse or religious elitism.

What is Babylon? It is the marriage of church and state, religion and government; or to be more direct, it is allowing the leaven of the world to spread via Organized Religion and Institutional Christianity. As an example, consider how pastoring a church has become more of a profession than a calling, and how church government has digressed from a theocratic, Spirit-led consensus to a "Spirit-led" democracy, or worse, a "Spirit-led" benevolent dictatorship of a single pastor or a church board. This is the result of the spirit of Babylon. Whereas the True Church is to be "in the world, but not of the world", Babylon is that which is both in the world and of the world - it is by, for, and of the worldly system, yet it retains the outward appearances of godliness and spirituality. It is a synthesis of God and man, taking the best that each has to offer and fashioning a golden calf with it.

Babylon is always antithetical to Christ. It is anti-Christ. Babylon is represented as a religious whore riding on top of a beast which kills the prophets and saints of God. Perhaps we have missed the point by personifying the Antichrist as a Hitler-type world leader bent on global domination. Antichrist is the religious antithesis of Jesus Christ which flows from Babylon AS Jesus Christ. It is not coming, it is already here, and has been here from the beginning. Perhaps denominationalism is the real mark of the beast. If so, it is no wonder that so many are willing to accept it.

I hate preaching

Preaching. I don't think anyone really wants to be preached at. Most of the people sitting in pews every week don't want to be preached at. I don't know what makes us think someone wants me to ring there doorbell and preach at them. I can't stand preaching most of the time. Where did it come from, anyway?

I'll tell you where it came from. The Greeks. Those Greeks loved their orators. They were celebrities in their own time. In fact the best orators could convince you of something you didn't believe, and they didn't believe themselves. Greeks would have loved used car salesmen. Remember they invented democracy, I don't know if they were trying to be more fair or if they just loved all the filibustering.

The question is, does the Greek tradition of speaking homilies belong in Church any more than say showing a film? Is it biblical? I can't find any references to preaching in the bible that isn't also tied to teaching. Think of it. Sitting on a hard bench, eyes forward, listening to a lecture. It's more like school than anything else. So why do we think of it as part of "worship?"

My answer is to be creative. If you think you already know the information being preached walk out. Hang out in the lobby and talk to other people who are bored. That way you get in some fellowship. You can't have fellowship when only one person is speaking. The word paster means sheppard. Bringing someone to Christ isn't accomplished by dragging them to church where one guy is authorized to speak for God. That actually takes you out of the equation when you are the one that attracts them to Christ.

Now that I think of it people don't grow through the modern system either. Sure their is a lecture, but compare that to how much you'd grow if you had to lead someone to Christ and mentor them from born again till ashes to ashes. Relationships mature people. They get messy, and uncomfortable but you grow up. A really good paster is probably counter productive to spiritual growth. People come once a week to get fed and they think they are doing their part. What if they had to go looking for what God wanted to give them next?

Just some food for thought.

Repost: Faith in Action

"Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him; and I will (1) loose the armor of kings,(2) to open before him the two-leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; (Isaiah 45:1-2)

God promises Cyrus that He will open the gates of an otherwise impenetrable city for him. Most people would not know how to take a promise like that. They want to spiritualize it away. They want to delay it ‘til the future, preferably the after life. But Cyrus lived in the here and now and believed he was born for precisely that purpose... to subdue nations, not metaphorically, but in practical reality.

This brings me to the second point I wanted to make in the previous blog on this topic... Don't tell me what you believe... Show me! Or more to the point; don't try to impress God with your ability to quote His word back to Him. He's not impressed. He expects us to meditate on His word. What He is impressed with is faith. (Heb 11:6) Faith talks, but it also walks. If your faith doesn't have legs, if it doesn't take action in sync with your words, it's dead.

So here's my challenge to you: Meditate in God's Word. Press in. Let His Spirit impress upon your heart anything He chooses. Then act as if it applied to the here and now. One time in a parking lot of a state park, I was praying before work. A homeless mother and two children who lived in their car pulled in so she could sleep and the kids could play. I was concerned and approached the woman in her car, but she was already asleep in the back seat of her trashed out car.

The Lord let me see she was suicidal, but I didn't know what to do. I walked away and prayed. The Lord took me to Matthew 6:13 in the Lord's Prayer where it says, "Deliver us from evil". I knew God wanted to deliver this woman from the evil oppression she was under, but I wanted to just pray for her from across the parking lot and go back to work. When I asked the Lord if He wanted me to deliver her from evil, (to be the vessel He used to deliver her), He asked me if I saw anyone else in the parking lot?!?!

I knew He wanted me to act NOW on the Word. I did and within the hour she was born again, healed of an affliction and her friend who arrived on the scene also got born again on the spot! Moral of the story... Don't put off ‘til tomorrow what God intends for today!

Michael Q. Pink

I'm Not Here-You Can't See Me

Incredible. What a self-indictment. “Nothing dangerous is happening here.” Those men have already been taken out because they’ve swallowed the Enemy’s first line of attack: “I’m not here—this is all just you.” You can’t fight a battle you don’t think exists. This is right out of The Screwtape Letters, where Lewis has the old devil instruct his apprentice in this very matter:

My dear Wormwood, I wonder you should ask me whether it is essential to keep the patient in ignorance of your own existence. That question, at least for the present phase of the struggle, has been answered for us by the High Command. Our policy, for the moment, is to conceal ourselves.

As for those who want to be dangerous (cutting-edge), take a close look at 1 Peter 5:8–9: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

What is the Holy Spirit, through Peter, assuming about your life? That you are under spiritual attack. This is not a passage about nonbelievers; he’s talking about “your brethren.” Peter takes it for granted that every believer is under some sort of unseen assault. And what does he insist you do? Resist the devil. Fight back, take a stand.

(Wild At Heart , 159, 160)

Sharing Faith

I woke today at 550am, thinking about sharing faith. It occurs to me that most groups that are militant about evangelism are actually trying to convert people to a "Christian" way of thinking, or worse "their" way of thinking.

The former is sharing a religion, the later is trying to win denominational converts, neither one is sharing the gospel.

Its tough when you think that this is all about how bad you were and how good you've become. I'm not a fan of that. For one thing, the only time it helps to tell someone how bad you were is if they feel beyond redemption. Most people are miserable, but unaware that redemption would help at all. So after we convince them that God forgives them no matter how bad they are we often follow it up with a description of God as a disapproving judge. Besides, we are all still human, and therefor, we continue to sin. If we use this method of evangelism we need to pretend like there's nothing wrong with our lives now that Christ is in it. We end up as posers and no one wants to listen to a poser.


We have been guilty of putting the great commission ahead of the first commandment. We have defined the great commission as "go and make disciples in every nation." The great commission is our Co-mission with Christ. Christ's mission statement is found in Luke 4:18, 19, when he quoted Isaiah,
18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

The key here is love. If you can't love God, yourself, and your neighbor, don't share the Gospel with him. You only end up abusing him. Truth without love is always abusive. If we share our faith without love its just another MLM (multilevel marketing) scheme--an exciting presentation followed by a haste decision.

Our testimonial should be, "here is who God is for me right now." Nothing is more important, when spreading the gospel then what we think about God. If you worship a God who is distant and angry that's what you'll share with people. If you are madly in love with a God whose been over our sin since before He made us, then you might have something to share.