1. The Condition of Christianity
Right now in America we live in a time that has seen much change just in the last ten to fifteen years. Social media and the iPhone have changed the way we communicate and advances in web development and video sites such as Vimeo or YouTube have changed the way we consume information. The fact is that many changes have happened not just in the technology but in the way people think and what they do. What is interesting is that with all the change around us what really has changed that much is the organization of church itself.
This is important because in order to reach people in our world for Jesus, at the very least we not only need to understand the world around us, but we need to understand that most of our thinking concerning ministry comes from the churches and denominations we come from. Therefore, we need to take a quick look at the condition of Christianity in our world.
Have you ever stopped and considered who the fastest growing faith group in America is? When I ask a question such as this most people ten to lean there answers toward Evangelicals or Pentecostals. However, right now in America the fastest growing faith group in the world is Nonbelievers in numbers and percentage. From 1990 to 2001, the last good count, Nonbelievers doubled around the world from 14 million to 29 million. Their proportion of the population grew from 8 percent to more than 14 percent. What does that mean? It means that there are more than twice as many people who claim to have no religion then participating Christians who subscribe to Christian beliefs. Consider these stats concerning Christianity:
While I understand these are not happy stats, we need to understand that this is the reality of Christianity and the condition of the church around the world, including America. This importance of being aware of this can not be understated. As Christ's Ambassadors we need to know the type of world we live in as well as the people we are trying to reach out to. If these broad statistics are true for our world how much more will it be true on the campuses we are called to? The fact is while every campus is a different context missionally, the feelings portrayed in these statistics will be intensified in a place like ac college campus. Therefore, as we understand what we are walking into it should seem evident that our approach for reaching our context needs to think past the same models and formulas that have led to statistics such as these. While these statistics show a declining Christianity it also conveys that we a crisis in the modern churches approach to evangelism. In the next section we will look at the gap between the church and the world. That gap is called cultural distance. By understanding cultural distance we will be able to home in on our methods and see if they way we are functioning is working
This is important because in order to reach people in our world for Jesus, at the very least we not only need to understand the world around us, but we need to understand that most of our thinking concerning ministry comes from the churches and denominations we come from. Therefore, we need to take a quick look at the condition of Christianity in our world.
Have you ever stopped and considered who the fastest growing faith group in America is? When I ask a question such as this most people ten to lean there answers toward Evangelicals or Pentecostals. However, right now in America the fastest growing faith group in the world is Nonbelievers in numbers and percentage. From 1990 to 2001, the last good count, Nonbelievers doubled around the world from 14 million to 29 million. Their proportion of the population grew from 8 percent to more than 14 percent. What does that mean? It means that there are more than twice as many people who claim to have no religion then participating Christians who subscribe to Christian beliefs. Consider these stats concerning Christianity:
- Traditional Church in the west is losing people at a rate of 20% a year.
- Less then 12% of Europe is Christian and they are a generation from extinction.
- Only 13% of Australian call themselves Christians and dropping 3% since 2006.
- Atheism grew 13% around the world in the last five years.
- Religious beliefs declined - 9 percent and Christianity declined - 9% globally, and declined in the United States -13%.
- Over half of all churches in the U.S. didn't add any new members in their ranks in the last two years.
- Over the last 40 years the church has declined from 40% of regular church attenders to less then 18%.
- Less then 1% of church grow is by conversions.
- There has been a 43% decline in church attendance by teens and young adults since 2006.
- The combined membership of all protestant denominations in the USA declined by almost 5 million members (9.5%), while the USA population increased by 24 million (11%).
While I understand these are not happy stats, we need to understand that this is the reality of Christianity and the condition of the church around the world, including America. This importance of being aware of this can not be understated. As Christ's Ambassadors we need to know the type of world we live in as well as the people we are trying to reach out to. If these broad statistics are true for our world how much more will it be true on the campuses we are called to? The fact is while every campus is a different context missionally, the feelings portrayed in these statistics will be intensified in a place like ac college campus. Therefore, as we understand what we are walking into it should seem evident that our approach for reaching our context needs to think past the same models and formulas that have led to statistics such as these. While these statistics show a declining Christianity it also conveys that we a crisis in the modern churches approach to evangelism. In the next section we will look at the gap between the church and the world. That gap is called cultural distance. By understanding cultural distance we will be able to home in on our methods and see if they way we are functioning is working