USA- An appalling amount and increasing number of protestant and catholic churches are closing their doors every year in United States. Following declining people attendance, dilapidated infrastructure, and costly maintenance, between 6,000 and 10,000 temples are closing each year, according to estimates presented by LifeWay Christian Resources.
“I am particularly concerned about the deteriorating health of many churches,” said Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources. “Between 6,000 and 10,000 churches in the United States die each year. This means that around 100 to 200 temples will close this week.”he indicated.
Rainer believes this pace will continue to pick up unless churches make some dramatic changes. “It is tempting to blame secular culture, national politics, or religious leaders for the decline in influence of evangelicals today. If external forces and culture were the motives behind it, we probably wouldn’t have churches today.“, I observe.
The president of the organization also highlighted that “The greatest periods of church growth, especially in the first century, occurred in the midst of adversarial cultures.”
“We are not impeded by external forces; we are harmed by our lack of commitment, self-denial and evangelistic urgency»he warned. «The evangelical leaders listen to me well. For many of their congregations, the choice is simple: change or die.”
Among the suggested changes, Rainer made a list of themes: we must remember our purpose; we must make ourselves houses of prayer; we must stop seeing the church as a place of comfort and we must emphasize evangelism and discipleship.
“Many congregations are dying, but I am optimistic about the time we are living in. «I have already seen God take a series of churches out of the spasms of death and turn them into prosperous churches»he claimed.
Rainer also clarified that there is no standardized solution for all churches. “Revitalization will be different for each individual church. However, churches that are dying have a real chance to change things,” she said. “When a church goes from bad health to good health, it changes the community. That changes lives. That changes the world.”
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