christianity's decline Archives - Page 16 of 19

Promise and Peril: Lyman Stone’s galaxy-brained solutions to decline

Yesterday, we examined a big report by conservative culture warrior Lyman Stone on behalf of American Enterprise Institute (AEI). He had a lot of things to say about the decline of Christianity in America, and I detected a constant theme of fearmongering and potential exaggeration throughout his work. We’ve already covered what his assertions are. Now, here’s my assertion: Lyman Stone needs his target audience to be scared enough to buy his product, because ordinarily they’d recognize what a bad idea that’d be.

By Captain Cassidy, 6 years05/09/2020 ago

Analyzing Christianity

Promise and Peril: A Meta-Report on Christianity’s Decline

Hi and welcome back! A few days ago, a conservative think tank offered up a meta-report on Christianity’s continuing decline. The report, called ‘Promise and Peril,’ also seeks solutions to hopefully reverse that decline. I read it today and a bunch of stuff jumped out at me. Today, I’ll show you Read more

By Captain Cassidy, 6 years05/08/2020 ago

church drift with the waves | roll to disbelieve

Analyzing Christianity

Steve Timmis’ rise and fall (reveals a serious problem in Christianity)

The more seriously Christians take their ideology, the more dangerous a malignant leader becomes to them. One prime example of these rules could well be what just happened in Acts 29, a huge Christian church-planting business. Their leader, Steve Timmis, just lost his job there. And he lost it by being, apparently, a grade-A jerkweed. Today, let’s check out Acts 29 and see what red flags Steve Timmis might have been waving there long before his situation came to a crisis point.

By Captain Cassidy, 6 years02/12/2020 ago

Analyzing Christianity

Booting Their Boomers: How One Church Plans to Become Popular at Last

Recently, I noticed something coming up a lot in the commentariat and elsewhere: this news story about Cottage Grove United Methodist Church. Their leaders are taking a really unusual step to try to bring in new blood. They’re gonna do it by throwing out the old blood! Here’s why this strategy is doomed to failure right out of the gate–and why these Christians are desperate enough to try it anyway.

By Captain Cassidy, 6 years01/27/2020 ago

Analyzing Christianity

The Problems and Pitfalls of Church Revitalization

This type of business, church revitalization, might well be one of post-Christian America’s most lucrative cottage industries. Today, I’ll show you what revitalization is–and why it’ll fail just like everything else Christians do to try to regain their onetime cultural dominance.

By Captain Cassidy, 7 years07/10/2019 ago

SBC Watching

Back when the SBC issued a Million Baptism Challenge

Last year, the SBC managed to slightly slow down its tanking baptism rate. It reminded me powerfully of something they tried some years back. Back in 2005, their top leader issued a firmly-worded Million Baptism Challenge. Today, let’s look at what that challenge involved, the context in which it was issued, and what happened at the end. And then, let’s look ahead.

By Captain Cassidy, 7 years06/02/2019 ago

Analyzing Christianity

Harsh Truths For Christian Leaders About Personal Evangelism

Christians really dislike evangelizing. In past posts, we discussed statistics and some reasons for that reluctance. Today, let me reveal some harsh truths for Christian leaders about a long-standing and fully-justified reluctance that is quickly turning into a crisis.

By Captain Cassidy, 7 years05/10/2019 ago

Analyzing Christianity

Thom Rainer’s Defense of LifeWay’s Failure (LSP #79)

Come join me for a weird ride through Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) politics, infighting, and a strange show of defensiveness from one of their biggest names, Thom Rainer. Today, Lord Snow Presides over yet another SBC attempt to make catastrophic failure sound like incoming victories galore.

By Captain Cassidy, 7 years02/12/2019 ago

Analyzing Christianity

Evangelicals: Nope, still in denial over their decline

Recently, some irresponsible folks over at Newsweek let him and a pal blather at length about how they perceive the SBC’s decline. Come see these two ear-ticklers get set straight!

By Captain Cassidy, 7 years12/19/2018 ago

Analyzing Christianity

The decline trainwreck continues: Christian responses to that 6,000-10,000 church closings figure

We’ve been talking lately about the rash of church closures in America. A figure of 6,000-10,000 closings a year began circulating online recently, and it’s got a lot of Christians in a tizzy! Well, today let’s see what their big grand plan is to reverse that trend. (Spoiler: What they’re suggesting won’t help, and I’ll show you why, too!)

By Captain Cassidy, 7 years12/02/2018 ago