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Of course! Salvation is in Christ. The Bible is not about you and me. It's about Jesus--and how he redeemed mankind. That message could be applied differently to different people -- because we all have different situations, but the common core issue is the problem of sin - and that God defeated it.
If I wrote you a letter, do you think that eveyrone else on this board would be correct to take the letter and apply it directly to THEIR lives in whatever way they decided to do so?
If sin was defeated than why do you insist that it's a problem?
What exactly are you talking about here? You have a habit of throwing out vague puffery such as this without explaining it.
I am sorry. I do assume some background information. Thanks for asking.
When I say "magic" I mean things like "died, woke up, and flew away. Or walking on water and raising the dead. teach to what people "see" and let their "faith" build on that.
Like that great post analyzer once said. " ... We find that many times the length of the post is inversely proportional to the truth of it ...". What that means is that if it takes a page to explain, the notion trying to be "sold" might just be a personal opinion. Mine tend to be shorter.
This topic is really huge as far as I'm concerned. Growing up as a Southern Baptist I never really identified with the people in the church. In fact, it almost seemed like a hellish nightmare. Most of my friends were from either mainline protestant (Episcopalian, Methodist), Roman Catholic, or something other. I often didn't learn about this until many years later. So I do think that these mainline churches have a lot to offer many people who aren't even aware of their existence, or at least aren't aware of how they might differ from the more common evangelical American church. And I know that this is exactly what spiritually seeking millennials are looking for, especially those who have become disillusioned with Christianity from growing up in an evangelical "faith" Christianity. They would be pleasantly surprised to find that not all of Christianity was like that.
This topic is really huge as far as I'm concerned. Growing up as a Southern Baptist I never really identified with the people in the church. In fact, it almost seemed like a hellish nightmare. Most of my friends were from either mainline protestant (Episcopalian, Methodist), Roman Catholic, or something other. I often didn't learn about this until many years later. So I do think that these mainline churches have a lot to offer many people who aren't even aware of their existence, or at least aren't aware of how they might differ from the more common evangelical American church. And I know that this is exactly what spiritually seeking millennials are looking for, especially those who have become disillusioned with Christianity from growing up in an evangelical "faith" Christianity. They would be pleasantly surprised to find that not all of Christianity was like that.
Even here in Canada where the majority of Christians belong to mainline protestant churches or are Catholic, the stereotypical evangelical church is what people who weren't raised in a churchgoing environment will associate Christianity with. It's funny to see you agree that millennials would theoretically be looking for the kind of teachings you'll find in mainline protestant churches. You would think this would be the case, and yet what we are seeing now is the churches with younger membership are exclusively very evangelical, charismatic and fundamentalist churches. This usually comes with right-wing political beliefs and we are seeing in our secular society an exclusive association with religiosity and political conservatism, when in the past the opposite was true.
Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
10,202 posts, read 7,944,335 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pdw
Churches such as the Lutheran, Anglican (Episcopalian/C of E) and Presbyterian churches, as well as others such as the Methodist church, et cetera, were once some of the largest churches in the world, but today have rapidly dwindling membership, and a disproportionately elderly population that ensures further shrinkage. Young, secular folk continue to flock to Evangelical, fundamentalist and charismatic churches, however the same can not be said for mainline protestant churches. What can be done to draw youth back to these once highly influential churches?
Really?
You might want to tell that to the Southern Baptist Convention, whose demographics are showing the same or greater loss that those that you listed.
Let's fact it, religion, in particular the christian religion in North America is fast becoming irrelevant to many people, and soon to be most people.
You might want to tell that to the Southern Baptist Convention, whose demographics are showing the same or greater loss that those that you listed.
Let's fact it, religion, in particular the christian religion in North America is fast becoming irrelevant to many people, and soon to be most people.
I wasn't aware of that. I am seeing things from a Canadian perspective. There's not a lot of Baptists where I live to go by, but I see disproportionately younger crowds affiliated with Pentecostal, Seventh Day Adventist and non-denominational churches than more traditional churches. Also, these churches are growing in membership, whereas our traditional churches all have dwindling membership. The "born again" demographic tends to be younger, and people looking for a renewal in their faith are overwhelmingly choosing the above churches. This demographic is key to their growth. For some reason, young people are not attracted to either the older style of worship, or theology.
Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
10,202 posts, read 7,944,335 times
Reputation: 4561
Quote:
Originally Posted by pdw
I wasn't aware of that. I am seeing things from a Canadian perspective. There's not a lot of Baptists where I live to go by, but I see disproportionately younger crowds affiliated with Pentecostal, Seventh Day Adventist and non-denominational churches than more traditional churches. Also, these churches are growing in membership, whereas our traditional churches all have dwindling membership. The "born again" demographic tends to be younger, and people looking for a renewal in their faith are overwhelmingly choosing the above churches. This demographic is key to their growth. For some reason, young people are not attracted to either the older style of worship, or theology.
Your perception is not confirmed what is available on line:
The Churches of Christendom have, not only, treated adults as idiots with the false doctrines and money grabbing activity, but they think they can treat the young the same way. The average youth of today is too smart to be fooled by the clergy, by the hidden agenda of some of these frocked so called men and of the hypocrisy of religion as it is presented from the pulpit.
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Youth and Christianity
