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The Sermons are Boring But at Least the Music’s Good and the Coffee’s Free
Adventures in the 21st century Church
My friend Paul Walker has written extensively recently about the decline in church membership/attendance, articles you should really take the time to read. He brings a unique perspective to the issue, combining 40 years of experience as an Anglican priest with an intellectual curiosity that would have made Neal Peart proud (for anyone who’s not a prog rock fan, Peart was the lyricist for the band Rush as well as the greatest drummer to walk the earth, but I digress).
After reading his articles on the subject of church membership decline, I have been pondering the question quite a bit. I have seen all the various polls, statistics, and reasons Paul and others have put forward for the alarming drop, all of which are valid. However, I think there are a few reasons that aren’t being discussed. And though I don’t pretend to be an expert in socio-religious trends, I do have one thing few have: nearly three-decades as a serial church-hopper.
It’s not a claim I’m particularly proud of; it’s hard to build either a long-term ministry or long-term relationships with other believers if you change churches every few years, but in my defense, it wasn’t always my choice. When my kids were little, their mom changed…
