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Research indicating decline in the western evangelical church- relating to conversions

This is an interesting read on the rate of conversions in the church. It should cause produce some strong opinions.

Recent research indicating decline in the western evangelical church.

From the website:   http://www.xenos.org/books/satan/churchdecline.tm

(A website Dennis McCullum of Xenos Christian Fellowship. (site accessed 7-17-12 via Yahoo.com  by Kevin Jesmer at 2100)

From the book:   Christine Wicker, The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church, (NY: Harper One, 2008)

Of the 350,000 churches in the U. S., …less than 1 percent is growing by conversion growth.” Alvin Reid, Radically Unchurched, 23

The Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board report based on the 2001 U.S. Congregational Life Survey found almost the same number. Transfers, swithchers, or returners account for all but 8 percent of those who had been in churches fewer than five years. Wicker, 210

The evidence comes from Southern Baptists’ own studies. Only 7 percent of members who’ve been in a Southern Baptist church five years of less are true converts.” Wicker, 62

The truth behind all these numbers is that evangelicals are not converting and cannot convert non-Christian adult Americans, especially native-born white people, in significant numbers. Wicker, 64

A small and declining group of people has been portrayed as tremendously powerful and growing so rapidly that they might take over the country—when in fact that number of converts among this group is down and dropping. They are rarely able to convert and adult, middle-class American. Their share of the population is not 25 percent, but at most 7 percent of the country and falling. All these numbers come from the churches themselves. Wicker, 67

Evangelical churches aren’t baptizing nearly enough people to keep up with population growth, and baptisms are falling. Among the white middle class that’s been their political, economic, and social base, they rarely make a true adult convert. The great majority of people being baptized in evangelical churches are already baptized Christians and children. Wicker, 93

Thom S. Rainer and Sam S. Rainer, Essential Church?: Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts,B&H Books 2008

The American church is dying. Conversions are declining in almost every denomination. Even in some of the more relatively healthy denominations, conversions to Christianity have stagnated.

 Scott Thumma and Warren Bird, Not Who You Think They Are: The Real Story of People Who Attend America’s Megachurches, (Hartford, CN: Hartford Institute for Religious Research, 2009)

 Half of all churches in the US did not add any new members to their ranks in the last two years.

 




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