Those in the Faith Keep Trying to Spin its Decline



The pattern I've seen is that there are two camps inside the faith studying and commenting on its future. One is actual analysts. The other is promoters. None of the analysts in the faith see a "revival." All of the promoters claim there is one.

There are now, and probably will be for a while in the future, churches that are growing. These are pointed to as models for how all churches could grow if the just did the right things. Some of those attending growing churches, of course, are from churches that closed. 

The link points out surveys which have seen an uptick in questions like "the importance of religion". Some churches claim more young single men are showing up. This is offset by a decline of young women. 

While the numbers attending church can be counted it is not so easy to measure what goes on at the church service. If some of the growth is at services that feature popular Christian rock music and very brief sermons with light content, should that be counted as "growth" in Christianity?

The link author and other Christian groups with a scholarly bent all no clear indication there is renewed interest or growth in the faith. One statistic that does not seem to change is the percentage of those raised in the faith who leave as young adults. This has been around 50% for several years. Since those raised in the faith are a minority of the population the faith demographic seems destined to get smaller. 

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