‘The decline of evangelical America’

December 18, 2012

Writing in The New York Times, a 30-year-old evangelical pastor reflects upon the decline of evangelical Protestantism in the United States.

“While America’s population grows by roughly two million a year, attendance across evangelical churches--from the Southern Baptists to Assembles of God and nondenominational churches--has gradually declined,” John Dickerson writes. “The movement also faces a donation crisis as older evangelicals, who give a disproportionately large share, age.”

“Evangelicals are still a sophisticated lot, with billions in assets, millions of adherents and a constellation of congregations, radio stations, universities and international aid groups,” he adds. “But all this machinery distracts from the historical vital signs of evangelicalism: to make converts and point to Jesus Christ. By those measures this former juggernaut is coasting, at best, if not stalled or in reverse.”

 

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Further information:

• John Dickerson: The Decline of Evangelical America (New York Times)