Progressive Church Will Lose Believers

The Catholic Church has a membership of over 1 Billion according to cable news. After Pope John Paul II passed away, Bill OReilly of "The OReilly Factor" aired on either Friday, April 1 or Monday April 4 a show in which his two guests were naming the many great things the Pope has done for the world. Mr OReilly concurred with these points. However he brought out a page he held from which he read the statistics of church attendance of Catholics over the last number of years.The statistics showed a steady and incredible decline in church membership over the last 20+ years. Church attendance is down by 50% on average.

The statistics showed some European countries who are historically devout Catholic having 8-13% attendance by those claiming Catholicism as their chosen religion.

While this is not surprising in a Europe now quite secular, the world average is declining. One of the guests on The Factor stated the Catholic church is in decline however some Evangelical churches are in rapid growth around the world. It was also mentioned, not all Evangelical churches are growing, some are also in decline. Why is the church in decline?

I am Lutheran and attended Easter services at a Lutheran church in Tempe, AZ. I had preferred to attend one of the first 3 services Easter morning, however decided to go for a bike ride early and attend the 4th service at 10:45am. Growing up Lutheran I have heard the Easter service ritual many times and find comfort and hearing thepredictable Easter message. The entire service can be summed up in a short, spontaneous dialogue between Pastor and the congregation;

Pastor; "He is Risen!"
Congregation; "He is Risen indeed Hallelujiah.

"The above two lines would be said often as the services began and again as they ended. For me this is the most important part of the service. Quite possibly these same words are part of a tradition in many other Christian churches?

When attending the 4th service of 4 at the Lutheran church I failed to hear this anchor in Lutheran Easter services. This 'Praise' service is a more modern worship service. Intially I did not care for a service led by a sometimes plain clothes pastor, accompanied by a full band to encourage song and more casual congregation. I did warm up to the Praise services after attending them a few more times.

What I have noticed over the last few years of attending these services some weeks and traditional services other weeks is the message is different. The message of good news is more often watered down in a Praise service. Tradition is less obvious in these services. The pastor seems to have less of a leading roll in the worship. The two old testament verses and the Gospel reading were all done by members of the congregation. The pastor gave up the responsibility of the childrens message to a member of the congregation.

The songs were not out of the hymnal but were modern songs where stanzas are repeated 2 and 3 times because I do not feel the authors spent enough time developing the lyrics. These songs seemed shallow and without a message, so did the service.

The pastor is the educated, trained and ordained servant of the word. Let pastors teach and members listen.

Regardless of whether member numbers of the Lutheran Church are in decline today, if these patterns continue, the Lutheran Church will be desperate times in no time. Tradition and ritual are almost as important to the church as the word itself. Changing the church to fit the times? The times should change to fit the church. A 'progressive' culture has led to an 8% Catholic church attendance in Belgium? For the church to be 'progressive' appears to be dangerous at best.