It’s no secret that the Christian Church has changed over time. For example, according to the Pew Research Center, in 1910 the majority of Christians lived in Europe. Now the distribution of the world’s 2.18 billion Christians is evenly spread over Africa, North and South America, the Pacific, and Europe.
While the Church around the world has changed, the Christian Church in the United States has seen its own share of specific shifts and changes too. Here are five cultural shifts that could be impacting your church right now.
- In the past decade, the number of Americans who identify as religiously unaffiliated has been on the rise, especially among young people—35 percent of Millennials now report no affiliation. In addition, since 2007, the number of Baby Boomers reporting themselves as religiously unaffiliated has grown by three percent.
- According to the Public Religion Research Institution (PRRI), non-Christian religions like Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism have a larger population of members under 30 than the Christian Church. Nearly 60 percent of Christians are older than 50. In contrast, 42 percent of Muslims, 36 percent of Hindus, and 35 percent of Buddhists are under the age of 30.
- Alabama and Mississippi are the most religious states in the United States with 77 percent of adults saying that religion is very important to them. New England states—Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire—are the least religious with only 33 percent of New Hampshire residents saying that religion is very important.
- Interfaith marriages are also on the rise. In one report, nearly 40 percent of people who were married after 2010 said that they were married to someone of another faith. When this question was asked of people who got married before 1960, only 19 percent reported being religiously mixed marriages.
- Of those Americans who do identify as Christian, less than 20 percent attend church regularly. More than half of men say they attend church seldom or never, while 57 percent of women report attending church at least once a week.
Make no mistake, the faith life of Americans will continue to change due to demographic and cultural shifts. But God does not change. He continues to love his people and empower his church for carrying out the great commission to go and make disciples!
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