The Christian Church in the United States is in Trouble

In the last 20 years, I have regularly attended six different churches. That's not a large count, but it is a fair number. The church is changing. Some of those churches have been healthy and stable, but a couple of them have been hanging on by threads. I'm not talking about actual Christianity, because as a believer, I believe that God has got it all taken care of. I'm talking about the human organization side of the Christian Church, the various congregations and denominations all over the country. They are struggling.

My wife and I are Christian, but when we go through the list of the friends we spend the most time with, only a few, maybe 15% of them, are Christian enough to regularly attend church. The ideology of the church has turned off many millennials, who see public figures that are not accepting of the poor or sinners. The church doesn't really appear to be a loving and caring place when viewed through their most vocal public figures. When public church figures are actively campaigning for a person that seems to have no values, and certainly not strong Christian values, people get turned off to any thought of moral aspiration coming from that group. As the saying goes, it takes years to build trust, and seconds to lose it. Of course, when you get into a church congregation, they are typically very caring, but it takes time and effort to get into that group. Many churches have somewhat stale congregations, where the same people have gone for 10+ years, and they all know each other, and aren't necessarily looking to add new people, so they don't feel especially welcoming. 

To give a specific example, I once went to a church that had a declining membership, and the people were worried about the church finances. Just down the street was a Hispanic church start up that was meeting in an old hardware store, and I suggested, why not share the church with them, let them use it Sunday afternoons? That's was actually scoffed at as something the congregation would never go for. Yet, that's one way that the Christian Church in this country has a chance at survival is to show that we're more united than we are divided. 

Right now baby boomers are keeping a lot of congregations alive. When they pass away, a lot of churches are going to close. To some extent I do think retirees for decades have filled a lot of roles at churches because they often have more time for volunteering than the younger working population has. Another challenge is that there is a shortage of pastors. Here is an occupation where often it takes several years of additional schooling, and then the pay is often very low, it's a degree without a positive return on investment. I've also seen a few churches where they essentially push the pastor out because they didn't like something that he or she did. Not that the actions were a fireable offense, simply that church leaders didn't like the pastor's words or actions. Church politics can be tough. Every time a pastor is pushed out of a church, people get upset, and some leave, because it's an unloving act by the congregation.

I don't know what the future holds for the Christian Church in the United States. I hope it's good, and membership is strong, but I don't know, it's hard to see that in the next decade or two.