Reading reports of the latest doomsday prophesy on how the church in America and Europe is in decline is like drinking tonic water – yuk. I’m sure there is validity to the reports but the reporters seem to hype the story to invoke fear from the reader as if this decline is going to cause armed gunmen to burst into our homes and steal our children. Such behavior would not be tolerated in our developed countries. We are not even close to such things.

IF the worst comes true and churches go bankrupt from lack of tithes, if pastors find themselves without paycheck, if there are no places to meet for worship, if our litergy is compromised because we cannot afford the comforts of routine, if we are arrested for speaking the truth about morality, then we will find ourselves resembling the early church. That doesn’t really scare me all that badly.

Bottom line – God is faithful and He is always saving mankind from their sins. There will always be a remnant of believers. God’s grace is available to a declining church just the same today as it was in the persecuted early church or in modern persecuted countries. Do I want the church to decline? No. But I find that fretting over decline in attendance distracts us from worship and causes us to lose trust in God’s power.

By the way, there is currently growth in the gospel based churches in my area.