There are a lot of empty pews and chairs out there. A lot of people in Christian America who have given up on church or have not set foot in one for a very long time.
Not only that, polling shows that a lot of Christians have been sitting in church for most of their lives and it hasn’t made much difference at all.
Something’s wrong. Churches generally are not reaching the people all around us. Church as we know it isn’t producing the fruit the church should. There are exceptions, of course. But overall and in many ways, our methods and forms aren’t accomplishing our mission.
The links below offer some support for this basic premise. I’m not endorsing anyone by posting these various opinions here, nor am I saying I agree with everything that is said—or their suggested solutions. I just think these are helpful in some way as we assess our modern churches. They’re not in any particular order:
- George Barna—Church Model is Outdated (video)
- Skye Jethani—Millennials and the Megachurch Bubble (video)
- Why Millennials Are Leaving the Church (CNN Report) (video)
- Ravi Zacharias—The American Church (video)
- John Piper—A New Day for the American Church (video)
- David Kinnaman—You Lost Me (video)
- Francis Chan—I’m Tired of Church (video)
- “When God Left the Building” (video)
- Barry Liesch—”Back to the Fountainhead”
- Howard A. Snyder—”The Problem With Wineskins”
- Alfred Kuen—I Will Build My Church
