This time around our search for a church was supposed to be relatively easy because we decided to only consider a small geographical areavisit Mainline Protestant congregations (and those largely aligned with Mainline theology) Our relatively modest attempt has grown a few times: Plan A: 10 congregationsPlan B: 13 congregationsPlan C: 15 congregations (still far smaller than our last search that included 36 congregations!) Plan C When we set out for our original search for Read More …
Mainline Protestant
Visiting 50+ Churches in Dallas – Fort Worth (#1779)
Since relocating to the Dallas - Fort Worth metropolitan area in September 2015, I've worshipped in 52 different congregations. Denomination The vast majority (87%) of my visits have been to congregations in Mainline denominations. A complete list of denominational affiliations follows: So What? When I share the number of churches I've visited in recent years the first question I'm usually asked is "why?" My answer is always the same: "I searched for a church on relocating Read More …
6 Decades of Decline in the United Church of Christ (#1761)
The United Church of Christ (UCC) was formed in 1957 as the result of the union of two Protestant denominations: the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches. In 1957 the UCC included 8,283 congregations with 2,193,593 members. Every decade since the formation has featured a decline in both total congregations and total members (statistical data sourced from the Fall 2018 edition of United Church of Christ: A Statistical Profile) Declining Read More …
Search for a Church 2.0: Five More Visits (#1740)
In April my wife and I started our latest search for a church. We chose 10 congregations within 6 miles of our home, and committed to attending at least one worship service with each. In May I shared our experiences visiting the first five churches on our list. Now, I'm delighted to share our experiences with the final five visits. Visuals The first grouping of images in this post showcases #ViewFromThePew photos taken during our Sunday morning worship experiences in Read More …
Search for a Church v2.0 (#1732)
Search for a Church Search for a Church is the name I gave to the quest my wife and I undertook to find a faith community upon relocating to a suburb on the North side of the Dallas-Fort Worth (D/FW) metroplex in 2015. Our search took awhile - 17 months to be exact. The experience involved worshipping in 36 different Mainline Protestant congregations within a reasonable driving distance from our home. It concluded in February 2017, when we joined not one but two Read More …
Will Mainline Protestantism Disappear by 2039? (#1684)
A week rarely passes when one or more of my colleagues doesn't share with me some new bit of news about the poor health of American Christianity. Some of these pieces are based on nothing more than personal opinion or inappropriate generalizations from very small samples while others are reflections on richer data sets alongside more thoughtful reasoning. In my very informal review of the last dozen pieces of news others shared with me about the future of the American church a total Read More …
Americans Feel More Positive About Most Religions (#1670)
According to research conducted by the Pew Research Center, between June 2014 and January 2017, American views shifted to become more positive about about most of the world's great religions. More specifically, survey respondents were asked to to rate a variety of groups on a “feeling thermometer” that ranged from 0 to 100 (with higher numbers reflecting warmer or more positive feelings). Respondents warmed to several religions during this two and a half year period, including Read More …
Dwindling Membership: The United Church of Christ from 1965-2015 (#1654)
While I consider myself a post-denominational follower of the Way of Jesus, I have spent the most of the last six years involved in the life of congregations affiliated with the United Church of Christ. This Mainline Protestant denomination has experienced a significant decline in membership over the last 50 years from over 2 million members in 1965 to under 1 million members in 2015. The graph at right shows the denomination's total membership by year in blue and the percent Read More …
Farewell to White Protestant America (#1637)
Last week I noted how old Mainline Protestantism has become here in America. Back in 2011 I reflected on a group of pastors from one Mainline denomination that labeled their own tradition "deathly ill." Today, I recognize that death has come not only for that denomination or Mainline Protestantism but also for the Protestantism I have known and lived that is broader yet: White Christian America. Obituary Robert P. Jones', CEO of Public Religion Research Institute, new book Read More …
My 2016 Search for a Church (#1603)
How does someone with more than fifteen years of parish ministry experience search for a church when presented with the opportunity to connect with a community of faith as an active participant rather than serving as a pastor or staff member? In my case the answer is a work in progress. Last September I relocated to North Texas after living in Southwest Florida for eight years. Immediately, my wife and I started our search for a church. Despite my travel for work, we have managed to Read More …