Why Do The Churches In The West Decline?

Trowel & Sword. Dr. K. Runia. April 1971

Preamble: The decline of the Christian Church in the West has been the subject of many articles in Trowel and Sword as well as other Christian magazines and books over the years, both before and after this particular article by Dr. Runia. Despite his optimism that this decline, particularly in Reformed churches could be arrested by the preaching of “the Full Gospel”, today, 50+ years later, this decline has largely continued, to some extent at least driven on by the secularisation of the West resulting in blatantly anti-Christian policies, the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic, as well as the Islamisation of many countries due to an “open border” policy by their governments; factors which could not have been foreseen by Dr. Runia.

Why Do The Churches In The West Decline?

While in the non-Western world the churches are growing, in some cases even at a rapid rate, most churches in the West show a falling membership. Let us first have a quick look at the growth of some churches in the non-Western world. I quote the following figures from an article in The Spectator, the official magazine of the Methodist Church in Victoria. “The Timor Evangelical Christian Church, autonomous since 1947, has grown from that date from a membership of 223,000 to more than 650,000. The Western Indonesia Protestant Church between 1953 and 1967 grew from 150,000 to 350,000 and the Minahasa Evangelical Christian Church from 335,000 to 500,000. Total membership of churches within the Indonesian Council of Churches has grown over this period from 2,550,000 to 4,600,000. Membership of various Methodist Churches in Africa has also expanded. From 1964 to 1969 the Church in Kenya grew from nearly 12,000 to over 17,000, in Ghana from 66,347 to 82,419 and in the Ivory Coast from 14,004 to 17,038.” One scholar predicts for Africa a church membership growth from the 97 million of 1970, to 146 million by 1980, 220 million by 1990, and 351 million by 2000.

In the Western world, however, the picture is quite different. The writer in The Spectator gives a rather gloomy picture of his own church. There are 16,000 fewer Sunday School students between 1966 and 1969. There is an obvious decline in church attendance. The church membership figures are 2000 down. Some people in his church say “that by the year 2000 ‘there will be only a husk or a shell’, ‘the church will have ceased to be’. His own final conclusion is: “For sure, the Australian picture doesn’t read too well”.

Situation in Britain.

This bleak prognosis is confirmed by reports from other Western countries. Last year the English author Kenneth Slack published the second edition of his book “The British Churches Today” (first published in 1961). In the preface to the new edition he tells us that he had to revise his book thoroughly. “‘Passage after passage of the book written in 1960 has seemed strangely optimistic and had to be excised. To write in 1969 is to be led to wonder whether at the end of another decade the whole institution of the Church will not have changed its shape so drastically as to demand not a further revision but a totally different book trying to account for what has happened. It is still possible to write of the British Churches today in the light of history: shortly the operation may assume more the character of archaeology burrowing beneath a collapsed edifice”.

On the next page he writes: “The habit of worship has declined sharply. The curious phenomenon whereby England and Wales had many areas where evening was regarded as the normal time for worship can no longer be observed. Since this was the time when many on the fringe of Christian commitment would venture into a service, this decline is significant as a reduction in opportunities of mission”.

The figures in the British Free Churches can fairly easily be assessed. Mr. Slack gives the following long term figures. The Baptists in England fell from 434,741 in 1906 to 285,000 in 1967. The Methodists at the union of Methodist bodies in 1932 numbered 838,019. In 1968 there were 651,139. Congregationalists in 1909 were 456,631 and in 1969 they were 180,000. Taking into account that since 1909 the population of England increased by 50%, the figures are very serious indeed. It is harder to assess the situation in the Church of England since this is a typical ‘national church’. But the author believes that the situation is rather desperate, as some of the following figures prove. In the ten years to 1966 the ratio of baptisms to population dropped by 15.1%. In the metropolitan area this figure was more than doubled. More significantly, the national ratio of confirmations (=professions of faith) has fallen by 32.2% in six years. Ordinations show a drop of 24.8% in the five years to 1968. In the same period the figure of those recommended for training for ordination has fallen by the staggering drop of 58.9%.

But why has the process of decline been accelerating at such a speed in the last ten years? Mr. Slack points to “the shaking of the theological foundations”, of which Honest to God was the public sign. In this book Bishop Robinson declared “that the old clothes with which the faith had been clad for centuries had dropped off in shreds and tatters. What everyone had been suspecting, but scarcely daring to confess, now became something to come clean about”. But not only the theological and ecclesiastical foundations were shaken, but the moral foundations as well. “The old proclaimed certainties began to crumble”. The 1966 report on ‘Sex and Morality’, prepared by a working party of the British Council of Churches showed that the ‘new morality’ “had invaded the minds of responsible groups appointed by official church bodies”.

What is the general reaction to this process? According to Mr. Slack there are mainly three attitudes among ministers and theologians. Some (especially conservative evangelicals, but also others) openly speak of apostasy. Others like Dr. M. Ramsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, are increasingly accepting the new ferment. Others again greet all the ferment with joy. Among the great body church members there are mainly two reactions. Some greet the new developments with “a sense of of relief and liberation”. For many others there is “a sense of bewilderment”.

Importance for us.

So far we have simply followed the description of the situation by Mr. Slack. I believe that this description is important for us too, for in many ways the churches here in Australia and New Zealand go through the same process. It may not be as obvious as in Britain, but the same things are going on here. As we have already seen from the article in The Spectator the Methodist Church is suffering from these problems, and the same is true of all the other major churches.

Why?

The most important point, however, is not the mere description of the decline, but the question: Why is this happening? Undoubtedly this is a very complex problem and we should not oversimplify it. There are many factors, especially of a sociological nature. I am thinking of the increasing industrialisation and urbanisation, the greater mobility of the people, etc. There are also psychological and cultural factors. There is the fact of the increasing secularisation, with as one of its results that people have become much more honest about their church affiliation. They are no longer afraid to admit that they do not belong to any church at all.

Yet, from the point of view of the church itself, the main factor, I believe, is the fact that in many cases the church has lost its message. Mr. Slack mentions the book Honest to God. This book was and still is symptomatic of the kind of preaching that is being heard in many churches. Or take the theology of Dr. Hick which we discussed in the previous article. If this is the kind of message with which the church feeds its own members and confronts the world, is it any wonder that the interest of the people is sharply declining? Why should one go to church any longer? And of course, theology never stands on its own. Morality is based on it and it therefore follows suit. We see that in Honest to God, where Dr. Robinson advocated his brand of ‘situation ethics’, that is, an ethics of love without law. How much a changed theology influences ethics also appears from Dr. Hick’s article. At the end of the first article he writes: “Efficient contraception separates in principle sexual intercourse from the begetting of children and thus is said to remove a major reason for regarding pre- and extra- marital intercourse as morally bad”. 

Our own churches.

If our own churches will have a future, then there is only one possibility: We must preach the full Gospel! Less will not do. We have a message for the world of today only when we believe and preach the same Gospel that was proclaimed by the apostles. Naturally, we must bring it in a language that is not archaic but understandable to 20th century man. But it must be the same Gospel. And if this Gospel is alive in our own hearts and lives, I am sure that our churches will not decline but grow. It is interesting to see that evangelical congregations in England are generally holding their ground and even growing, in spite of the general decline, and it is the same all over the world. This is also the secret of the growth of the church in the non-Western countries. On the mission field the old and yet ever new Gospel is preached and the Lord blesses it. A church with this Gospel also has a word for the world. The world of today does not need new theories or philosophies, a la Hick or a la Robinson, but it needs the saving and redeeming power of the gospel of Christ. This is the only power that can transform persons and nations. Yes, it can transform even the structures which form the inner fabric of our society. This has happened in the past, when, for example, the institution of slavery was gradually broken down. It can still do the same. And the church can make a real contribution to the life of the nation and of the world at large, when it preaches this full Gospel of Jesus Christ as the Saviour AND Lord of the world.

K. RUNIA

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