The 2023 Book of Reports speaks of a devastating membership drop, huge losses of member churches, and nowhere near enough bounceback in their baptism metrics.
Lately, we’ve been talking about Christianity as a fandom. It certainly shares a great many characteristics with secular fandoms: Object(s) of devotion, ritualized behavior, participation in a niche culture, infighting both within the fans’ own particular groups and with other groups in the wider fandom as a whole, and more. Read more
A recent Medium piece about Christianity’s decline has been making the rounds on social media. In it, a Christian makes three assertions about his religion’s decline. Two are partially correct. But the last reflects a beloved but completely untrue myth that Christians almost universally embrace. Let’s examine each of these Read more
It’s not a new book, but that’s okay. Its advice hasn’t gotten old yet.
The day I realized that Christianity is a super-intense fandom with extra strings attached, a lot of keys turned in a lot of mental locks for me. Ever since that magic moment, I haven’t been able to view exhortations to Christians about reigniting their Jesus-passion the same. I just can’t Read more
In the consumer internet’s early years, evangelical Creationists started a war against, um, reality itself—but they insisted that no, they were actually at war with atheists. In the ensuing 10-20 years, they haven’t changed much. They still think their #1 enemies are atheists. And they’re still pumping out the same Read more
Recently, I showed you the drama around the selection of a Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) leadership role: the President and CEO of their top-ranked Executive Committee (EC). Previous Chairman Jared Wellman had thrown his hat into the ring. But in a stunning upset, he failed to get enough votes from Read more
A years-long Southern Baptist feud between two powerful factions approaches the end of its middle. Can the beginning of the end be far off?
I’d say ‘Don’t ever change, r/TrueChristians,’ except I already know they won’t. So there’s no need to say it.
For evangelicals, who literally define themselves by their drive to recruit new people for their churches, church drift represents far more than an absolute tragedy.