What Makes a Dead Church
What Makes a Dead Church
By Jeff Walton
http://juicyecumenism.com/2013/02/22/what-makes-a-dead-church/
www.theird.com
February 22, 2013
Something to Avoid: Churches can fall into a spiral now that results in the bulldozer later. (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
The Protestant religious landscape in my town is punctuated by two ongoing trends: new church plants bustling with young families and established congregations that are plateaued or in decline. The newer churches almost all uphold traditional church teachings, but utilize non-traditional buildings for worship and meet at non-traditional times. Some, but not all, of the plateaued or declining churches are more liberal in their theology. Regardless of if they are traditionalist or revisionist, these older churches are leasing their church buildings to pre-schools and other non-church groups and feature graying congregations.
With this backdrop from my local community in mind, Associated Baptist Press caught my attention this week with a story about a church in Decatur, Georgia which is about to be shuttered, demolished, and re-developed into a shopping center. Once drawing 500 persons on a Sunday, Scott Boulevard Baptist Church is now down to less than 50 members, most of which are rapidly aging.
Read the full story at www.VirtueOnline.org
By Jeff Walton
http://juicyecumenism.com/2013/02/22/what-makes-a-dead-church/
www.theird.com
February 22, 2013
Something to Avoid: Churches can fall into a spiral now that results in the bulldozer later. (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)The Protestant religious landscape in my town is punctuated by two ongoing trends: new church plants bustling with young families and established congregations that are plateaued or in decline. The newer churches almost all uphold traditional church teachings, but utilize non-traditional buildings for worship and meet at non-traditional times. Some, but not all, of the plateaued or declining churches are more liberal in their theology. Regardless of if they are traditionalist or revisionist, these older churches are leasing their church buildings to pre-schools and other non-church groups and feature graying congregations.
With this backdrop from my local community in mind, Associated Baptist Press caught my attention this week with a story about a church in Decatur, Georgia which is about to be shuttered, demolished, and re-developed into a shopping center. Once drawing 500 persons on a Sunday, Scott Boulevard Baptist Church is now down to less than 50 members, most of which are rapidly aging.
Read the full story at www.VirtueOnline.org
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