TGIF
The Gallup Poll has documented church membership for a long time. I found the following information in a recent Gallup report on change in church membership over time:
Gallup finds the percentage of Americans who report belonging to a church, synagogue or mosque at an all-time low, averaging 50% in 2018. U.S. church membership was 70% or higher from 1937 through 1976, falling modestly to an average of 68% in the 1970s through the 1990s. The past 20 years have seen an acceleration in the drop-off, with a 20-percentage-point decline since 1999 and more than half of that change occurring since the start of the current decade.
1998 – 70% 2003 – 64% 2008 – 61% 2013 – 59% 2018 – 50%
The decline in church membership is consistent with larger societal trends in declining church attendance and an increasing proportion of Americans with no religious preference.
These statistics are startling, the drop in church membership has been disastrous for the Christian faith and for America and the world, and the rate of decline has increased even faster in the last decade.
Tina stated in her sermon last Sunday – “This last year has been brutal. COVID 19, civil unrest, racial tensions, and a heated and often ugly presidential election. I wish I had a dollar for every time I have heard, “I am just so tired of the ugliness.”“
Many people today scratch their heads and wonder how did our society get to this point of such heated rhetoric? Lots of opinions are expressed, many blaming politics and social media for these issues. However, I showed in a recent TGIF that political leanings haven’t changed greatly since 1940, the political information is just louder and more frequent today because of cable news 24/7 news cycles and the noise from social media. I believe one important reason for this greatly reduced civility towards each other in politics and beyond can be tied to the large drop in Christianity in our country in the last 20 years.
I have talked with many people about the disastrous impact of COVID on the education of our children and how many children, especially the disadvantaged in society, may never recover from this lost year of education. I would offer that the same disaster is occurring in churches across America. Churches, including Covenant, have seen church attendance drop precipitously in the past year due to COVID. Many churches have only been holding virtual services, with no human interaction during this time. Being God’s servant means being around people, meeting together in church with your Christian friends to share the highs and lows of life, to get the needed support from like minded Christians when things go off the rails in your, or their, life. It also means being around others throughout society, not always knowing who is Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, other religion, or heathen. Those interactions allow us to show the world our light for Jesus, to serve Him openly and without judgment of other people. I am really concerned with what the next Gallup church membership poll will show after accounting for the impact of COVID on our country and the world. So it becomes more essential for us to demonstrate our light for Jesus clearly whenever we have the opportunity, and we need to seek more opportunities to witness to others as our country begins to open up again this year (hopefully) as more people are able to get their COVID vaccine.
Tina’s message and music in church last Sunday was all about having our light shine for God, and we need to focus even more on doing so during these difficult days.
Psalm 119:105 – Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
God’s Word provides illumination for us to walk without stumbling. May our lamp shine more brightly and more consistently as we go forward sharing our God with others. Our walk will not be perfect, we will still stumble at times because we are still human, but we can draw still closer to Him.
John 8:12 – Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
This is the Light of eternal life for those who choose to completely follow Him, to focus more on what Jesus is offering you rather than what the world offers you.
2 Corinthians 4:6 – For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
God created light from darkness in the world and now He creates supernatural light in each of our souls and takes believers from our world of darkness to His eternal kingdom of light.
Colossians 1:13-14 – For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Ephesians 5:8 – for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light.
May your light shine brightly for Jesus all the days of your life!