By Andrew Beasley
Many in religious circles in the United
States share concern over the declining numbers in church attendance. For
instance, in 2022 a combined study by General Social Survey and the Pew
Research Center showed a nearly 30 percent decline in adults who claim to be
Christian, while those who are religiously unaffiliated have seen an increase
from 5 percent to 29 percent over a period of about three decades from the
1990’s to 2022. There are certainly many reasons external to the church for
this shift, but it must be acknowledged that there are internal explanations
as well.
Recently, a two-part post regarding the
shift in thinking among millennials and Gen Z Christians (i.e. those who have
become adults since the GSS/PEW study) noted a desire among this group of
adults to shift from going to church to instead being the church. In truth,
there should be room for both. It should not be an either-or proposition but
a yes-and. In other words, we should be the church and also have a desire to
go to what many refer to as church or what we refer to as worship services or
assembly. If we truly are the church, then we should desire to assemble with
our brothers and sisters in Christ to glorify God. However, that should not
be all that we have to give.
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