Aging Congregations May Be Churches' Biggest Concern

[MineralMan]

http://www.religioninsights.org/articles/aging-congregations-may-be-churches-biggest-concern

Aging Congregations May Be Churches' Biggest Concern
Unless current social trends change, Mainline Protestant churches will face an even bigger drop-off in coming years.

Anyone who has sat in a back pew peering over rows of gray heads can attest: American churches are aging.

Sociologists of religion have tracked a decades-long decline in membership among mainline Protestants, but a national survey of congregations conducted for Hartford Seminary’s Cooperative Congregational Studies Partnership shows that aging congregations may be an even bigger problem.

The survey, called Faith Communities Today 2008: A First Look, shows that mainline Protestant churches are losing members, but evangelical Protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian congregations are experiencing dips or stagnation as well.

This is not a new article, but it's the first result from a Google search for Aging Congregations. There are many other results, but all recognize the same thing. Young people are not opting into church membership the way they used to. That is a fact, and it's true in all denominations.

[Ohiogal]

1. I do think

that many younger people are spiritual, they're just not church-goers, or do not belong to any type of organized religion.

[MineralMan]

2. I do not know what the meaning of "spiritual" is.

I keep seeing that, but without a good definition.

[Ohiogal]

3. To me, it means

that you believe in God, perhaps even read the Bible, and pray, try to do good in the world ....but you just don't belong to any type of organized religion.

[MineralMan]

4. OK. I don't believe in spirits, deities or any other supernatural entities.

I cannot. I don't desire to. My life is enough. I'm in awe of the universe. That, too, is enough.

[c-rational]

5. On Spirituality vs. Religion...from "Good Company II" "The world is not divided between East and

West, neither have religions divided the world. The world is one and governed by eternal rules. Religions only preach these rules, which are so composed that they show what is right and what is wrong. Right is that which is according to the rule and wrong is that which goes against it. If there is any division, then the world is divided between the ignorant and the wise.
The fear of damnation is for the ignorant and not the wise. The wise use discrimination and conform to the rule of their own accord an not from fear.Fear helps the ignorant, who are blind, conform to the rules. These two should not be confused. The religion which shows fear of damnation also shows the way of liberation from fear and misery. The trouble is with so called "intellectuals" who see the rules but do not act accordingly. For such people it is only a natter of talking and writing." Shantanand Saraswati...

[MineralMan]

6. Or, one can simply opt out.

That has been my choice.

[c-rational]

7. I too have opted out of attendance at religious services.

[c-rational]

8. Today I reread Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth. See page 17-Spirituality and Religion. On target to

your question.

[edhopper]

9. I hear this in New York

people lamenting that local churches are having problems because of aging congregations and low attendance.

I nod my head and smile inside.