What Should Christianity do to Reverse its Decline


An interesting national figure in all the commentary on the decline in Christian numbers is George Barna. Barna was raised Catholic but became and remains an evangelical Christian. He runs a survey firm located in a Christian university in Arizona and seems to have endless funding for surveys. He is a featured speaker and publishes a lot. Barna is unusual in that he defends the faith while honestly reporting its decline. 

Maybe Barna's own parents indoctrinated him, or maybe he successfully indoctrinated his children. Whatever the reason, he is convinced parents can indoctrinate their children and reverse the decline of numbers in the faith. Today this is not happening and will not be happening perhaps ever again. Parents want their children to study religion for themselves and decide for themselves. In many or even most cases the parents of the parents did this with their children. Hamming home sin, heaven, hell, walking on water and all the rest just is not going to happen. Children are going to find another view more appealing than Christianity.

The Super Bowl is over and so are non stop interviews and punditry about professional football. One interesting player to follow this past year was the quarterback for the S.F. 40ers, Brock Purdey. He is a devout Christian but did not constantly play that card. When he did, he carefully navigated around the parts of the faith most annoying to other kinds of Christians and non Christians. 

For example, he never said anything like, "God gave us this victory," or "God blessed me (or my team) with this victory" or that God rewarded him or his team with anything. Instead, his comment without exception was, "I pray to be a better person. I pray I will reward others and that I will appreciate what others do for me." He says he reads the Bible for a while every morning. Perhaps his vow to be a good person comes from some scripture but is never mentions any scripture. He wears his faith on his sleeve but does so in a nonjudgmental and thus attractive way. 

Brock Purdy's way of discussing his faith is somewhat like the version of the faith the Pope Francis presents to the world. The Pope forbids Bishops from declaring publicly gay marriage es a sin. Instead, he wants gay people in church and wants them to feel welcome. Purdy's wanting to be a "good person" and the Pope's wanting the church to be a welcoming place are the seeds of what could save the faith.

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