Insights: Being the Church when Christianity Is in Decline

Recent studies show that a smaller proportion of Americans claim to be Christians.1 How does this impact the mission of a local church?

First, national trends do not apply in every local setting. Any local church that wants to be effective in making new disciples is aware of its own surroundings. Pastors and people have a sense of what the neighborhood needs and responds to. There are local churches in apparently God-less neighborhoods. There are local churches in neighborhoods where “everyone” claims a church home. God’s effectiveness is not limited to areas where people already like Him.

It is helpful to know that society’s attitude is changing. But local churches help the poor, present the gospel, teach disciples, baptize new believers, and reach out to their communities no matter what society thinks. This has been true for two thousand years and remains true in all cultures today.

If a local neighborhood seems especially resistant to the local church, it is appropriate for the church to be sure its priorities are biblical. Is the first priority to make disciples, or to preserve programs? Board meetings need times for discussing outreach and spiritual development, not just parking lot repairs and financial campaigns. Even a parking lot can be seen as an outreach tool if the emphasis is on “What will help our guests?” rather than on “What do I think looks good?”

What strengths has God given the local church? Are those strengths focused on the community? Those with the gift of teaching can offer learning opportunities, whether in outreach vacation Bible schools or in community-centered Bible studies. If the church is good at organizing pot lucks, it can invite the community for special celebrations. Do some attendees have entertainment abilities? Then dramatic or musical presentations can be offered to the community. Some churches organize food pantries or clothing closets for neighbors in need. Others open their buildings to after-school activities, from supervised sports to computer labs.

Influencing the Larger Society
Part of the church’s mission is to change society. Measurements that show a decline in Christianity are an indication that society still needs transformation. That is part of the larger mission responsibility of each local church.

But society itself is difficult to change. In fact, very few churches or groups of churches have much influence beyond the immediate neighborhood. Through the centuries, Christian-based societies seem to have been the result of large numbers of individuals becoming Christian. Of course, prominent Christian leaders have played a role, from the Ethiopian eunuch and Emperor Constantine through John Wesley and Billy Graham. But local believers in Ethiopia, Rome, Britain, and the United States were key to transforming those societies.

A local church can sponsor new churches, perhaps built on new models. Those currently outside the church are not a single cultural group. Some need new approaches to respond to God’s message. Others would be more comfortable in the kind of church they remember from their childhood. A single church can rarely offer both approaches. New churches, or at least new services, allow Christian leaders to develop their own strategies for reaching a segment of the community.

A local church, new or existing, can reach out to the next generation through children’s Bible clubs or youth programs geared to reach beyond the church. The areas where Nazarenes are strongest today tended to have very strong Cradle Roll programs fifty years ago. Looking for ways to tell the good news to the next generation has long-term implications for the gospel.

Facts Behind the Reports
The “declining Christianity” headlines do not tell the entire story. Evangelical Christianity has not suffered the same declines as other groups. The United States remains far more actively Christian than other industrialized nations. The jump in “other religions” or “none” actually took place in the 1990s, with a much smaller increase this decade.

But whatever the larger trends, and however they are interpreted, the call to local Churches of the Nazarene remains the same: To make Christlike disciples in the nations.

—prepared by Dale E. Jones and Rich Houseal