Rocky Road?

The decline of the old mainline denominations has been chronicled many times over the past 25-30 years. Nothing has stopped it. Here is the latest from that front as reported by Crosswalk.com from Barna.

Report: Mainline Protestant Churches Face Rockier Future

The Christian Post reports that a new survey from The Barna Group shows that mainline denominations did not decline as much as expected in the past decade, but may be "on the precipice of a period of decline." The report found that mainline church congregations average about 89 to 100 people, but that only 15 percent of American adults identify with a mainline denomination. The Barna Group considered American Baptist Churches in the USA; The Episcopal Church; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; the Presbyterian Church (USA); the United Church of Christ; and the United Methodist Church "mainline denominations." Today, these venerable denominations account for only one-fifth of all Protestant congregations today.

But Barna himself has this to say at the end with some hopefulness:

George Barna ...commented that mainline Protestant churches seem to have weathered the past decade better than many people have assumed, but that the future is raising serious challenges to continued stability. He identified the quality of leadership provided – especially regarding vision, creativity, strategic thinking, and the courage to take risks – as being the most critical element in determining the future health and growth of mainline congregations. He also indicated that the approach that many mainline churches take toward some current social issues – e.g., environmental challenges, poverty, cross-denominational cooperation, developing respectful dialogue, embracing new models for faith expression, and global understanding – position those churches well for attracting younger Americans.