What Happened To Our Churches

What Happened To Our Churches

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Their End Is Practically in Sight

The Office of Research and Evaluation of a major mainline church denomination just released their projections of decline in membership and attendance. From 5 million in 1988, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America can expect fewer than 67,000 members thirty years from now.  Average attendance will be less than 16,000 in about twenty years. This […]

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Holy Spirit, church, church growth, church decline, christian, mainline churches

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Top Blogs of 2019

  Why Do People Go To Church? If you were asked that question, how would you answer and how long would you need to think about it? Read More     Why So Many Young Adults Went Missing In the last several decades a critical balance shifted in the United States. While the majority of […]

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: mainline churches, top 10, Holy Spirit, church, church growth, church decline, christian

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Chart Your Spiritual Journey

Telling about one’s spiritual journey is common in Evangelical communities. It’s an invitation to talk about your conversion. But there is no reason why mainline Christians can’t do that, too, even though we are usually baptized as infants. I advocate telling about your spiritual journey in terms of how close or far from God you […]

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: church growth, church decline, christian, mainline churches, Holy Spirit, church

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Share Episodes of Your Personal Spiritual Journey

“Spiritual Growth” is a long-used category in my Lutheran experience, at least in the Walther League of my youth. But “Growth in the Spirit” is a totally new category not yet on the radar of most pastors. At least that is my experience in trying to promote “Thriving” or “Growing” in the Spirit. “Closeness to […]

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: mainline churches, spiritual journey, Holy Spirit, church, church growth, church decline, christian

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Growing Closer to God is Similar to Peak Performance by Athletes

Over my years of membership in the American Psychological Association, I watched my division of industrial and organizational psychology spin off a new specialty called sports psychology. Those psychologists focus on helping athletes to reach peak performance. They explore mental practices that allow an athlete to squeeze out a little more speed or increase endurance […]

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Holy Spirit, church, church growth, church decline, christian, mainline churches, spiritual journey

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The Spirit’s Work has to Stay Fresh for a Church to be Healthy

I recently talked with my neighbor about the frustrations he is experiencing at a prominent mainline church where he has been an active member and leader for many years. Many such once-famous and now-mostly-empty mainline churches are spread across the country. What I noticed is how frequently he recalled great preachers of the past and […]

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Holy Spirit, church, church growth, church decline, christian, mainline churches, spiritual journey

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Six Practices That Will Help You Grow in the Spirit

How do we get more of the Holy Spirit’s influence in our inner being? The Spirit works at his own initiative. Yet there are certain activities we can undertake on our own to open ourselves more fully to his work. These historically are called spiritual disciplines. Forty years ago, Richard Foster recast disciplines for Protestants […]

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: church decline, christian, mainline churches, spiritual journey, Holy Spirit, church, church growth

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Did You Have Any Primary Experiences of the Spirit Over the Holidays?

When you celebrated the Christ child and started the New Year, did you have any primary experiences of the Spirit at work in your life? Did you see the Spirit touching someone else’s life? The Holy Spirit is God at work touching hearts and then moving people into action. The Spirit’s hallmark is stirring up […]

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: church decline, christian, mainline churches, spiritual journey, Holy Spirit, church, church growth

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Practice Self-Denial

In the GROWTH practices I have identified, O is the first stretch practice. The six practices are Go to God in worship and prayer, Receive God’s Word for you, Opt for self-denial, give Witness to your Spiritual experiences, Trust God in a new venture, Humble yourself before God. In my personal walk with the Lord, […]

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: mainline churches, spiritual journey, Holy Spirit, church, church growth, church decline, christian

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Give Witness to Your Spiritual Experiences

The fourth in the GROWTH practices is to give Witness to your Spiritual experiences. The six are: Go to God in Worship and Prayer, Receive God’s Word for You, Opt for Self-denial, give Witness to Your Spiritual Experiences, Trust God in a New Venture, Humble yourself before God. A spiritual experience in your spiritual life […]

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Holy Spirit, church, church growth, church decline, christian, mainline churches, spiritual journey

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Trust God in a New Venture

The fifth of the GROWTH practices I advocate is to Trust God in a New Venture. Challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone and do something new and different to help God’s Kingdom come in some person or group’s life. This is what you are asking for in the Lord’s Prayer. As Luther […]

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Holy Spirit, church, church growth, church decline, christian, mainline churches, spiritual journey

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