The Church is in decline when it comes to attendance. Since the early 90's, attendance in American churches has been falling steadily. There has been talk that eventually this will lead to The Church's extinction and/or irrelevance.

I think that notion is rather ridiculous; Christianity has been around for 2,000 years. It was an integral part to the lives of America's founding fathers. I doubt the American church will shrivel up and die anytime soon.

However, I do think that a change is underway that will change the way that The Church interacts with the world around it. I'm not talking about a minor change, either. I think that it is a fundamental shift in perception that many will not even view as real Christianity. In what may be viewed as a paradox, I believe that this shift in Christianity will result in something closer to what was intended by God when it was first formed. It obviously will not be perfect, but I think it will be a step in the right direction.

Due to the freedom of religion you find in America, many people are excercising their right to choose by not being involved. If you'll look at this page on Wikipedia about America, in 1990 88.3% of those surveyed identified themselves as belonging to Christianity. By 2001 this had dropped 8.5% to 79.8%. Among those, the number of people who are Christians not affiliated with a denomination had risen from 4.7% to 7.2%; a 2.5% increase. That's a lot of people not attending church on a weekly basis.

Religion is a touchy subject. It can easily cause arguments. The American church has earned a reputation for being full of hypocrites, closeminded individuals, people with superior attitudes and are unwilling to think for themselves. Unfortunately, in many cases these charges are true.

The excuse I used to make for that kind of behavior is that those sorts of people aren't "real" Christians. As I got older and met more and more people, I saw more and more of the same sorts of behavior, even among people I would consider "real" Christians. I've begun to think that the problems emanate from The Church itself.

What, exactly, are these problems?

1. False love
2. Emphasis on outward actions and behavior
3. Reliance on the accuracy of literal interpretation of the Bible as a lynchpin for faith.
4. Resistance to cultural change
5. Commodotization of The Gospel
6. Insular culture; a loss of touch with reality
7. Lack of emphasis concerning spiritual gifts and fruits

I'm sure there are more. I don't have time to go into detail on these things now. However, these things are at the root of my dissatisfaction with The Church as it stands now.

My faith is very important to me, and I hate to see it twisted into something it was never intended to be. I am not alone in this. There are others out there with a similar view. Until these problems are recognized by The Church as a whole and addressed, attendance will continue to decline. Young adults will continue to flee The Church as soon as they are able.

The Church can kid itself that it is still relevant in a Post Christian society, or it can make changes to its methods and doctrine in an attempt to align itself more closely with its original mission: to make the Gospel known and bring people into a right relationship with God.