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Are the bells tolling for the American church?

From LifeWay Research comes the following trends which may soon affect American Churches:

1. Our nation will see the emergence of the largest generational mission field in more than a century. According to our current research, the Millennial generation, those born between 1980 and 2000, will have a very low Christian representation. Our estimates now are that only 15 percent are Christian. With a huge population of nearly 80 million, that means that nearly 70 million young people are not Christians.

2. The dominant attitude of this huge generation toward Christianity will be largely indifferent. Only 13 percent of the Millennials rank any type of spiritual matter as important to their lives. They are not angry at churches and Christians. They simply ignore us because they do not deem us as meaningful or relevant.

3. Senior adult ministries in churches will experience steep declines. As the large Baby Boomer generation moves into their older years, they will resist any suggestion that they are senior adults, no matter how senior they may be. Unfortunately, many churches are slow to adapt to new realities. If they do senior adult ministry the way they’ve always done it, it will be headed for failure.

4. The large Boomer generation will become more receptive to the gospel. Our data is anecdotal for now, but we are seeing indications that the Boomers may actually become more interested in spiritual matters in general and Christianity specifically. If so, this trend will be counter to other trends where adults tend to become less receptive to the gospel as they age. The Baby Boomers have tried it all and found no joy. They may likely turn to the hope of the gospel.

5. Family will be a key value for both of the large generations. For the Millennials, family is their most important value. Nearly eight out of ten of the Millennials ranked family as the important issue in their lives. They told us that they had healthy relationships with their parents who, for the most part, are Baby Boomers. Some churches say they are family friendly, but few actually demonstrate that value. Churches that reach both of these generations will make significant changes to become the type of churches that foster healthy family relationships.

Read the whole thing: Five major trends for churches in America

Response: Many secular folks are anticipating a huge decline in membership for Christian Churches in America. As the Boomer generation gets older and begins to depart from this earth, many expect that the Christian influence in America will finally decline and go the same way as Europe.

The key to that expectation lies with the small number of Millennials that are actually Christians and involved in churches in America. The writer of the Lifeway article views this as a wide open domestic mission field opportunity.

       (Image via Wikipedia)

The Christian Post put up some observations by mega pastor Francis Chan about the American Church.

Pastor Chan questions whether today’s church is anything like what God originally intended. Here’s some of the quotes –well worth reading:

“You go to a building, someone gives you a bulletin, you sit in a chair, you sing a few songs, a guy delivers maybe a polished message, maybe not, someone sings a solo, you go home.”

“When you read the New Testament, you see the Holy Spirit was supposed to change everything so that this gathering of people who call themselves Christians had this supernatural element about them.”

“Do you really see this supernatural power at work when the believers gather together for what we call church? Isn’t it the same Holy Spirit that’s supposed to be available to us today? Why is it so different?”

“I heard one person say the church nowadays is neither super nor natural,” he says. “Everything is predictable and everything is expected.”

“There’s a truth to that. I feel bad about it. Being around a church culture, even leading a gathering of believers, I’ve gotten pretty good at predicting what’s going to happen in a church service. Was that the way it was supposed to happen?”

“When Jesus said this power (of the Holy Spirit) would come upon you, it really did come upon them and they were powerful beings (Jesus’ disciples). Why is it that in the church so many people are weak or defeated or we get so insecure because we look at ourselves rather than God? It doesn’t make sense.”

“…the response among His people today is: “Hi, welcome to church. Here’s your bulletin. We’ll get you out in an hour. Come back next week.”

“I mean, really? Is that all God intended for us?”

“What would the church look like today if we really stopped taking control of it and let the Holy Spirit lead?”

“I believe this is exactly what the world needs to see.”

Response: I really like the ending. Here’s one pastor who obviously gets it. Those of us who have been seeking revival and renewal have all talked along the same lines about what we observe in the American church.

This is why many of us believe that when revival does come to America it will happen in the public square and in the Marketplace first just like where it started in the first century with the Apostles and also in the ministry of Jesus. The church will be substantially dragged along later kicking all of the way.

This does not mean that there will not be churches involved in the revival. There will be key congregations and groups all across North America that will prepare their members to respond, facilitate, accommodate, and make a place for the move of God. Come Holy Spirit.