To borrow and adapt a phrase from the late Mark Twain, reports of the Church’s death have been greatly exaggerated.
Christianity Today recently ran an article by Pastor Ed Stetzer, the president of LifeWay Research, that drives home this point. In “The State of the Church In America: Hint: It’s Not Dying,” Stetzer corrects this false narrative that the Evangelical Church is on an irreversible downward trajectory.
In doing so, he makes an important distinction – and I’ll quote Stetzer here: “Christianity is represented by people who live for Christ, not check ‘Christian’ on a survey form.”
As he fleshes out this idea, Stetzer separates the 75 percent of Americans who identify with one of three categories – those who say they are Christian because of their family history or heritage; those who do nothing more than attend church every now and then; and, finally, those who acknowledge a personal relationship with Jesus and have experienced a real life-change.