The Pew people have another great survey that sheds light on some of the trends reported in my last blog. For a summary of the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, cf. http://religions.pewforum.org/reportsAmong the interesting conclusions,
The Landscape Survey confirms that the United States is on the verge of becoming a minority Protestant country; the number of Americans who report that they are members of Protestant denominations now stands at barely 51%. Moreover, the Protestant population is characterized by significant internal diversity and fragmentation, encompassing hundreds of different denominations loosely grouped around three fairly distinct religious traditions - evangelical Protestant churches (26.3% of the overall adult population), mainline Protestant churches (18.1%) and historically black Protestant churches (6.9%).
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Perhaps this is further evidence of the disconnect between the church, leadership, laity, and insiders and those outside our churches who see no way to be part of what they perceive to be a closed body.
Will numbers like these cause us to examine and modify our approach, or will we determine that our numbers and influence are declining because we have not been "churchy" enough?
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