This Is That -- 13 March 2022

It is heartbreaking to see people walk away from the Christian faith. Friends, family, and high-profile spiritual leaders.  Falling away or leaving the Christian faith is not something new. Paul tells of Demas “because he loved this world, Demas has departed from the faith.”

This trend of people leaving the faith seems to be accelerating in our times.

There are more than 72 million millennials in America - almost a quarter of the population. An increasingly sizable percentage of that generation has walked away from faith of any kind, choosing to identify as “religious nones.” In 2008, researchers noted that close to a third of millennials (31.9%) described themselves as religiously unaffiliated. Just ten years later, that number was at 42.7 percent.

Church membership in America has suffered greatly in the past decade.
1937 church membership 73%, early 1980’s more than 70%, 2000 it was at 65%, by 2010 it was 59%, in 2020 it was 50%. Now, less than half of Americans belong to a local church. Pandemic factor.

This is more than people leaving the church, a declining church membership, attendance, it is people falling away from Jesus Himself.