CHASING A SHADOW

In the year 2020, a Gallup poll showed that only 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque. 

In the 1980s, the figure was over 70%.

That’s quite a drop.  

But don’t be shocked.  It gets worse.

 

You see, those are the figures for “membership in houses of worship”. 

Figures for actual church attendance have always been lower.  

Much lower.

A study carried out in 2004 by Olson et al. of the Evangelical Covenant Church showed that 17.7% of the U.S population attended a Christian church on any given weekend. 

So, contrary to popular belief, more than 80% of Americans were likely non-Christian or nominally Christian at best. 

These studies show two harsh realities. 

Firstly, Christians are in the minority. 

Secondly, the church is shrinking, not growing. 

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This book highlights three of the root causes of this decline.  They are like three millstones that hang about our necks. 

It's hard to get the job done when we're carrying that sort of weight. 

Many have tried to downplay the results of studies like these.  They claim that the secular media exaggerates the issue.  Maybe.  

But maybe not so much.  We’ll talk about that in the book too.

 

But all is not lost.  We really can “lay aside every weight”.

We can indeed stop “chasing shadows while leaving the substance behind”.