Christian Population Shrinking?

By Franklin Dumond

WASHINGTON — The United States is a significantly less Christian country than it was seven years ago.

That’s the top finding — one that will ricochet through American faith, culture and politics — in the Pew Research Center’s newest report, “America’s Changing Religious Landscape,” released Tuesday [May 12, 2015].

This trend “is big, it’s broad and it’s everywhere,” said Alan Cooperman, Pew’s director of religion research.—USA Today, Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Reported on both the local and national news media the research reports that about 70% of Americans label themselves Christian while in 2007 about 78% chose the Christian label. At the same time 23% of Americans now classify themselves as have no religious affiliation up from 16% in 2007.

Several other features of the research report that evangelicals remain more stable in their percentage of the population while Catholics have lost both market share and real numbers. The study was based on 35,000 respondents.

Noted church researcher Ed Stetzer often remarks that facts are our friends. It appears to me that this is true of the current study despite the alarmist reaction in both local and national media. There is cause for alarm but there is also a basis for optimism.

Cause for Alarm: An 8% loss is serious. This accounts for about a 1% loss of market share every year since the last survey taken in 2007. Among evangelicals, however, the loss was much smaller with a decline from 21% of the adult population to 19% of the adult population.

Basis for Optimism: One important fact not included in the news coverage of the research study is that the overall number of believers in the United States has remained relatively stable for a generation or more. What has changed is the rate of growth of the Christian movement in the United States. Growing at a slower rate than the overall population means a loss of market share but no necessarily a loss of total numbers. Thus the imminent demise of the Christian church is not likely.

Cause for Alarm: The rise of the “Nones” is significant. Nearly one-fourth of the population surveyed indicated no religious preference. Cultural trends influence this response. In the middle of the 20th century going to church was an accepted, even expected, cultural trait. The Christian church in America enjoyed preferential treatment and competing activities were simply not allowed. For example sports leagues and extra-curricular activities were never scheduled on Sunday mornings and in many communities were not allowed on Wednesday evenings.

Basis for Optimism. The loss of cultural Christians leaves a ‘lean, mean, fighting machine’ of believers who have intentionally chosen their faith. It’s been a long time since I heard the stories of church leaders who served faithfully for 20-30-40 years finally coming to a personal faith after all those years of service.

Cause for Alarm. The downward trend in market share has resulted in a loss of preferential treatment for the Christian Church and has even tended toward a hostile environment of skepticism and distrust. In some cultures the current treatment of some Christians in America would be considered persecution. Can the church in America survive in a hostile environment?

Basis for Optimism. The loss of preferential treatment for the institutional church removes many of the automatic tools designed to propagate the faith that were available to earlier generations. Relationships, however, remain the key to winning people. Thus with a larger proportion of non-believers the fields remain white for harvest if believers take seriously their relationship to non-believers.

Cause for Alarm. It is harder to reach people these days by just having a physical presence on a busy street. A church planter who became a mentor to me in my younger days always advocated three key ingredients for church growth in the 1950s: “location, location, location”. He knew that in his day folks would come to church, if they knew where the church was located. Thus visibility was the key ingredient to church growth.

Basis for Optimism. The gospel still works! Ministry remains hard work but for those pastors and church leaders who will intentionally hold forth the Good News life change will still happen. The key ingredient these days is not location of facility. Nor is it style of worship. The key ingredient these days is gaining a hearing for the gospel so that the message of who Jesus is and what He does can begin to change people’s lives.

As I look at the research I find the cause for alarm moving me to a new sense of urgency. As I reflect on the implications of the research I find a new basis for optimism not in a blind, uninformed faith but in the rock solid conviction that the Lord is still at work in our world. Part of my optimism is based on the conviction expressed in the old gospel song:

“We’ll work! ‘Til Jesus comes we’ll work.

We’ll work ‘til Jesus comes and we’ll be gathered home.”

 

Turning Point

By Steve Gill

We are excited to share with you that God has lead us to birth a new, life-giving church in Bonita Springs, Florida called, Turning Point Church. Our purpose is simple; ‘to help people experience a life changing relationship through Jesus Christ.’ We have a heart to point people to the life change that Jesus brings to all of us. That’s part of the reason our church is called, Turning Point. A turning point is a decision in a person’s life that changes things! It changes us, our circumstances, and even people around us. We believe that what we do with Jesus changes everything in our lives!   He is the ultimate turning point! p 9-10 Gill Family

For the past 23+ years, we have been involved in various roles of ministry, serving within the local church and overseas in Latin America. During that time, God has given us the opportunity to be a part of some great churches and to have some great leaders speak into our lives. Those experiences have honed the vision that we have for our community. We know three things very distinctly.

One, we have a heart for those far from God. Our desire is to see TPC become a church that connects with people who don’t know God. Certainly we want our church to be a place for people already following Jesus, but our mission is to care deeply about reaching those who have walked away from the church and those who don’t know God at all. Wouldn’t it be amazing to be a church where people far from God can serve side by side with those who know Him, and grow in faith together?

Secondly, we have a heart for families. We believe we live in a day and age where parenting is getting harder and harder. Being a kid and teenager is equally as tough. Think of the mixed messages that our culture is communicating. Think of the pressures that our kids are facing. We want to be a church that helps parents and grandparents raise their kids with intentionality. We want to help parents seize the everyday moments to lead their kids closer to knowing Jesus. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a church that is full of families; kids, teens, parents, and grandparents together?

Lastly, we desire to help bridge the gap that often exists between cultures and extends into the church. We’ve been told over and over that division exists in our community. We’ve even seen it! So, our hope and dream is to have a church that is diverse culturally, particularly where Anglo and Latino cultures come together to experience God and serve together. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see a church that is a small picture of what heaven looks like every day?

Recently, we had the opportunity to share that vision at our first public gathering. The amazing part was that God led 24 people to that first meeting! As we started the meeting you could feel a buzz in the room and an anticipation that God was up to something new in Bonita Springs. We walked away with a fresh excitement as several families committed to be a part of our launch team in March. The history of Turning Point Church has begun!

While we love this dream of building a Christ centered church, our biggest heart and priority is for our family. On more of a personal note, Keisa and I met back in college and have recently celebrated 24 years of marriage together. We are grateful for the experiences in our lives that have strengthened our marriage and ministry. God has also blessed the both of us with four amazing kids (Aaron-14, Ellie-11, Christian-11 and Karinna-8). We, like most parents, are actively involved in our kids lives through school and sports. That keeps us pretty engaged and moving most days at the Gill home! For fun, our clan likes to watch movies, play sports, and make some tasty desserts! We honestly just love spending time together.

We are looking forward to our new life in Bonita Springs, pouring into the lives of our kids and helping grow a church that honors God. Thank you in advance for your prayers and your generosity in helping Turning Point Church launch with strength!


Steve and Keisa Gill, along with their four children, are brand new to our General Baptist family. They will be launching Turning Point Church in Bonita Springs, Florida in the fall of this year as the very first Go Project plant. To follow their progress, visit www.tpclive.org or like Turning Point Church on Facebook.

The Go Project

By Carl Nichols

In January, when our team (myself, Brandon Petty, and Vince Daniel) was appointed to help navigate the future of National Missions, it was obvious that we needed a clear direction for the next few years.  Before developing any plan or outlining any goals publicly, we had to look hard at the state of affairs in National Missions.  With this in mind we began to develop, and are still developing, healthy systems that enable us to plant churches better and faster.  We also paid off a loan against some endowments almost two years ahead of schedule.  We are now in a more stable place than we have been in the six years I have been involved in the movement.

At this point, the question became: “What are legitimate goals that stretch us to work hard and trust God?”  It was in answer to this question that the Go Project was birthed.  The Go Project is a five year initiative that officially begins in 2015 to launch 15 healthy churches in the next five years.  We recently hosted our first assessment and will share details of our first Go Project plant in Bonita Springs, FL in the very near future.

I shared some numbers at Summit this year and wanted to take a moment to share once again.  Take a look at the five year impact of the Go Project on our General Baptist Movement.

If we take the average attendance, salvations, baptisms, and Unified Giving numbers of our five most recent church plants, and spread them over 15 more new churches in the next five years:

  • 8,922 more people will be attending worship services in a General Baptist church
  • 6,278 more people will receive Christ
  • 2,688 more people will be baptized
  • $278,400 more a year to Unified Giving

This is so exciting for the Kingdom of God and the future of our movement. We take our call to serve General Baptists seriously, and we believe if we can make this happen, we can help be a catalyst for the greatest days of our movement in the years to come. If you know someone who would be interested in planting a church, our next assessment will be held in the spring of 2015 in the Atlanta area.

On behalf of the National Missions Advisory Team, it has been a great experience working alongside our Executive Director, and I believe the best days of our movement are yet to come.

A special offering will be received October 26th in our General Baptist churches.  If you would like to give on National Mission Sunday, your support will help fund the Go Project.  You can give online at www.generalbaptist.com, by phone at 573-785-7746, or by mail at 100 Stinson Drive Poplar Bluff, MO 63901.  Be sure to designate your gift to the Go Project.