The Challenge for Churches

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     I know better than to write about politics and religion. But, I have chosen to do so because of an online discussion on the topic in an MBA course on Strategic Management that I am teaching. 
     In the April 2017 issue of The Atlantic, an article, Breaking Faith, reported the following: 

Over the past decade, pollsters charted something remarkable: Americans—long known for their piety—were fleeing organized religion in increasing numbers. The vast majority still believed in God. But the share that rejected any religious affiliation was growing fast, rising from 6 percent in 1992 to 22 percent in 2014. Among Millennials, the figure was 35 percent. 

     According to Pew Research back in 2012: 

The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public – and a third of adults under 30 – are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling.
In the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all U.S. adults. Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics (nearly 6% of the U.S. public), as well as nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation (14%).

     How are churches doing in terms of attendance to services and membership? There seems to a general decline even though some megachurches are clearly thriving. So, a question came to mind: How do churches stay relevant? The core beliefs have to stay true but there are a lot of changes happening around the edges. 
     It seems that technology and science move faster than religion can adapt. Just consider premarital sex, abortions, and gay unions/marriages that were always there to some degree but hidden from view due very strict church views regarding them. Now, some churches are struggling to deal with these changes while others have embraced them. How churches deal with them or how slow they are to adapt make churches less relevant to many folks. 
      Consider the advances of medicine. In past centuries, prayer and faith were perhaps the only thing people could turn to when a loved one took ill. Nowadays, prayer and faith are in addition to or hand and hand with medical science. 
     Consider when we had to grow or hunt for our own food and it was all done locally, we had to more thankful, seriously truly thankful, for our meals than we have to in today's world of abundance. We probably take that abundance too much for granted. 
     To me, religion has always thrived on answering one central question: what happens when we die? No one know for sure. We only truly have faith. In days of yore, the faith answer to these questions were more story based. Those dogmatic stories or answers have less impact in this uber (not the car service) connected world today. 
     I also see a dichotomy in free will vs God's will? The boundary is fuzzier than ever. People and, more so, churches use it however makes sense. If you sin, it was all free will. If someone dies suddenly in a car accident, we may attribute that to God's will. To me, everything is God's creation including the probabilistic nature of this world and our lives. When I am in church listening to sermons, I am often baffled how God’s will is evoked. 
     The Bible used to be the world's best self-help book. In a market flooded with self-help books on every need we have, how is scripture which was written and rewritten in the early days of the church 2000 years ago faring in that market place. 
     Oh my, is it indeed a market place? Churches are up against youth sports, school activities, 24/7 television, social media, books galore, streaming music and video services, dual working families, time management, etc. How do churches gain their share of mind and participation? 
     Consider two successful Chicago area churches. They are the Willow Creek and Harvest mega-churches. The founders or current head pastors of that church are currently entwined in sex and graft scandals that have to be devastating to the parishioners of those churches. How many will leave? Churches have to avoid scandal and criminal charges against their leaders 
     How do churches manage these kinds of changes and help people navigate these changes? How can churches help people understand and cope? Why are so many people turning away from churches for these answers?
     I believe churches have to offer what people want and need.  The have to do this while parts of this target seem to be moving faster than ever. Even though I am seriously thinking about this, I do not have the answers to these questions and concerns. I do believe that church leadership, clergy and laity, has to address them.
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