Here’s a Bad Take On The “Decline of Church Attendance in the West” Conversation

It’s no secret.

Church attendance has fallen in America.

According to the data, church attendance is lower today than it was pre-pandemic. Those who have been paying attention know this isn’t new but part of an ongoing trend that has been documented for the past two decades. 

So why is this happening?

There have been a lot of hot takes which have tried to explain this decline. Here are a few I’ve scanned in recent years (paraphrasing): 

“Churches have gotten too political.” 

“Churches haven’t spoken out prophetically enough.”

“Churches have traded away Biblical teaching for entertainment.” 

“Churches have exchanged prayer for mechanical pragmatism.” 

“Abusive leadership that disregards the people of God has quenched the Spirit.” 

“Churches have not cared well for the least of these.” 

“Cable news has out-discipled churches.” 

These are just a few examples.

But from my vantage point, there is one take I’ve found to be the least helpful because I believe it doesn’t give an accurate or honest take on the situation:

The overly simplistic explanation.

It could be any of the aforementioned statements on the list by the way, but the simplistic take is the singular, grand sweeping statement that’s supposed to explain the complexity of an entire issue.

“The church is declining because of a lack of holiness!”

I find this kind of reasoning dishonest at worst, intellectually lazy at best.  

Again, I’m not saying any of the aforementioned explanations can’t be true or aren’t true because all of them might be true. But that’s the point!

The issue of the decline of church attendance in America isn’t a simple issue, but a complex one. This isn’t something that can be quickly explained away but requires thoughtfulness and consideration since a wide range of possibilities that may be working together.  

Some Other Potential Factors

For example, in addition to shallow discipleship (which may be happening at some churches but not all churches), it might also be true that life for the average American has gotten busier.

Jake Meador wrote a piece in The Atlantic, entitled, “The Misunderstood Reason Millions of Americans Stopped Going to Church” in which he alludes to this very point.

He says, “Contemporary America simply isn’t set up to promote mutuality, care, or common life. Rather, it is designed to maximize individual accomplishment as defined by professional and financial success. Such a system leaves precious little time or energy for forms of community that don’t contribute to one’s own professional life….”

If this is true (and it very well might be), wouldn’t this be a key contributor to the overall equation of the church’s decline? Absolutely. A society that champions busyness as a virtue will view church attendance differently than it did 50 years ago. 

Here’s another example. Yes, it may very well be that churches have a leadership problem… and it may also be true many churches have removed options for people to attend church by reducing church services.

This was the case made by Madeleine Davies in her article on Church Times. In this article, she pulls from research that shows a “‘strong correlation” between reduced provision and reduced attendance.”

In other words, the more churches have cut services, the greater the decline in church attendance because fewer options are being presented to them.

Parents of a newborn baby may choose the 10 am service over the 12 pm service because of nap time considerations. But if noon suddenly becomes the only option, those parents may opt out of attending church altogether. One Sunday absence can quickly become a month, in which a new life rhythm emerges for this couple. 

The point is there are probably many factors at play for why church decline is a reality in the West. There may certainly be spiritual factors. But there may also be sociological factors on the part of society and strategic factors on the part of churches. A complex web of variables is likely producing what we’re seeing. 

Conclusion 

Truth be told, I like simplistic solutions. They give me a sense of control and frankly, I feel like I have permission to stop learning. I also have a sense of power and judgment over others. I can look down on an entire group of people with my mic drop statement.

But I also know, those statements are rarely true in their entirety and therefore, unhelpful. 

In order to be those who reverse the tide of the church, we need to see it as a complex issue requiring multiple inputs. 

Yes, that sounds overwhelming. But at least, it’ll bring us to our knees in prayer and that’s a great starting point (though certainly not the only thing to do).