Friday, 6th October 2023
Bible Reading: Matthew 16:18
Memory Verse: ... I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18 (KJV)
In 2014, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams stated that the UK had become a “post-Christian country.” That same year, only 4.3% of the population participated in a Church of England Christmas service. In the United States, Christianity is the largest religion. In 2016, Christians represented 73.7% of the total population.
In 2019, Christians represented 65% of the total population. Nationwide Catholic membership increased between 2000 and 2017, but the number of churches declined by nearly 11%. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) lost about 30% of its congregation and closed 12.5% of its churches: the United Methodist church lost 16.7% of its congregation and 10.2% of its churches.
The Presbyterian Church has had the sharpest decline in church membership: between 2000 and 2015, they lost over 40% of their congregation and 15.4% of their churches. In 2018, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that churches in Minnesota were being closed due to dwindling attendance. Mainline protestant churches in Minnesota have seen the sharpest declines in their congregations.
The Catholic Church has closed 81 churches between 2000 and 2017; the Archdiocese of Minneapolis closed 21 churches in 2010 and has had to merge dozens more. In roughly the same time frame, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Minnesota has lost 200,000 members and closed 150 churches.
The United Methodist Church, which is Minnesota’s second-largest Protestant denomination, has closed 65 of its churches. In the early 1990’s, the Archdiocese of Chicago closed almost 40 Catholic churches and schools. In 2016, increasing costs and priest shortages fueled plans to close or consolidate up to 100 Chicago Catholic churches and schools in the next 15 years.
Moderate and liberal denominations in the United States have been closing down churches at a rate three or four times greater than the number of new churches being consecrate.
However according to The Christian Century, the rate of annual closures is approximately 1% and quite low relative to other types of institutions. It has been asserted that of the approximately 3,700 churches that close each year, up to half are unsuccessful new churches.
Credit source:
Comment: Pray for the Church in the West.
Quote: Satanic strategies could be subtle but far reaching if not nip in the bud right early.
Prophetic Decree: Every dark spiritual covering sponsored by die-hard principalities over the Church in the West shall catch fire, in Jesus name.
Prayer Focus
1. Arrow of slow death fired at the Church of God shall not prosper, in Jesus name.
2. Arrow of satanic extinction fired into the Church, backfire, in Jesus name.
3. The power of satanic silencers shall not prosper against the Church, in Jesus name.
4. The rage of the gates of hell against the Church in Europe and America, be silenced, in Jesus name.
5. O Lord, please send down revival and kingdom laborers, in Jesus name.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: John 2-4