Can We Stop Asking, “What Is Our Church Doing Wrong?”
This essay originally appeared on Convergence and has been reposted with permission.
The headlines are constant. American churches are shrinking and aging. Mainline protestantism is declining. Younger generations are less and less likely to go to church. Alternatively, there is a revival happening. People are returning to church (if we only do it right).
Sometimes it feels like the only conversations in our churches are about whether or not the church is doomed. In our own congregations, the constant questioning about what we need to do to reverse these trends is depressing and spiritually draining. Is there another way to talk about church in 2026?
What is happening in the 21st century in the United States goes beyond any individual congregation or religion.
Globally, faiths like Buddhism are also facing a decline in younger adherents. Research from the Pew Research Center reveals that 40-42% of those raised as Buddhists in Japan and South Korea are now religiously unaffiliated. Most of these people identify now as atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular. Sound familiar?
In the Global North, Catholicism and Protestantism are losing many folks who were raised in those traditions. In England, for example, the average attendance at a Church of England congregation is 26. Pew Research also reveals that in much of Europe, less than 25% of people attend worship services at least monthly. In Australia, the share of the population declined by 20 points. The percentage of the global population who identify as Christian is getting smaller over time. Christianity only rose as a percentage of population in one region of the world, sub-Saharan Africa, and the only country that saw significant increases was Mozambique.
Why would we expect our churches in the United States to be so different from other faiths or Christian traditions in other parts of the world? American exceptionalism is a pervasive idea, but we should take off those lenses and look honestly at the landscape.
Much of the loss to church participation in U.S. Protestantism is simply a loss of casual participation and affiliation.
In the mid-20th century in small town America, if you wanted to be a professional with any measure of success and social connection, you had to answer the question of where you went to church by naming one of the big mainline congregations in town. Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopalian, occasionally Congregational. Anti-Catholic and anti-semitic views abounded at this time. Other faiths were suspect. Christianity was the default, an assumed part of the American Way of Life™. Robert Bellah called this phenomenon “American civil religion.” These affiliations were a practical and social choice, not one of devotion and practice. Thankfully, this level of conformity is no longer needed to have a rich and full life in most places.
Once-a-week Christianity no longer works for modern lives. Sundays at 11 AM are no more sacred a time in modern calendars than a random Tuesday at 3:30. Expecting people, even those who deeply seek to follow Jesus, to prove their devotion through this single hour of the week is unrealistic. The challenge of following Jesus in modern times is to find the times we need to sit in a tree like Zacchaeus, have dinner with tax collectors after a busy day, and gather the children unto us even when they, too, have busy schedules.
What if 21st-century Christianity is one where those who truly seek to follow the teachings of Jesus gather in old and new spaces to do so?
Does that mean fewer people will be a part of traditional churches? Of course. Does that mean we may need new ways of gathering and working together that don’t involve buildings from past centuries and structures from generations past? Definitely. This re-reformation we are witnessing has the potential to shift American faith away from conformity and toward transformation. Are you willing to be a part of this shift?
If so, maybe you can get these conversations going in your church in place of business as usual. You could:
Stop asking “What’s wrong with our church?” as you face a global trend of declining religiosity.
Celebrate that you (whether you gather 5 or 505 on Sundays) are beloved children of God.
Ask simply how you can do God’s work together, no matter your size.
Shift your ways of gathering and working to make room for any who truly seek to follow Jesus toward love, generosity, and justice.
Measure your devotion not through big budgets or buildings, but through your practice of love.
If you need help changing the conversation, reach out to me at anna@convergenceus.org. I also have a new book out now called Wisdom Church: Abundant Life for Aging Congregations, and would love to talk with you about how your church can live abundantly, regardless of your size and average age.
Sources: All trends and statistics found at www.pewresearch.org and Analysis: Positions vacant in ‘fragile churches’