By Stan Szymanski

During the last two decades church attendance in The United States has dropped dramatically. According to Gallup, Americans’ membership in houses of worship continued to decline at last measure, dropping below 50% for the first time in Gallup’s eight-decade trend. In 2020, 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque, down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999.

According to an earlier Gallup article there are now significantly fewer Americans who have a religious preference (as opposed to those who do not have a preference) who are affiliated with a church through church membership.

On the surface, one might attribute this decline to generational differences and norms as church attendance/affiliation deteriorates with each younger generation with Millennials having significantly less involvement than Gen Xer’s and Gen Xer’s less than Boomers.

We need to identify what is going on in the churches to find out why people are getting out of the churches and what is the answer for those who truly wish to worship God in spirit and in truth.

For most of its history, churches were sized from 20 to perhaps 150 members which explains why in so many cities and small towns that there is literally a church on every street corner. In many of these churches there were less than a handful of church employees and in many cases it was just the pastor who had a church member who played the organ to assist the minister on Sunday morning. Because of the Shepherd/sheep relational nature in the church it is not possible for a pastor to care for the spiritual needs of much more than 150 people. In smaller churches the individual congregant has more of an opportunity to have a meaningful (hopefully spiritual) relationship with the pastor. The stronger the relationship between pastor and church member, the longer a member stays a member.

Today however, is an age dominated by the mega church. A mega church is loosely defined as having more than 2000 members. The pastor of a mega church can never get to know a 5,000 member congregation. So how can a mega church make sure that members stay members if the churchgoer has no relationship with the pastor? That is done through the ‘cell group’. Cell groups, are typically small groups of people (between 5-15) which are intimately linked to the life of the church. Those who attend the cell groups are expected to attend the church. Those who attend the church are expected to attend the cell groups. The mega church exhibits pressure for the member to attend the cell group meeting and the cell group uses peer pressure to have members attend regular church.

If there is a common message shared by all megachurches, it is that they want to portray what they do as more vital than other congregations, somehow better than “ordinary” Christianity. Megachurch pastors can often be heard commenting that they are “not just playing church.” But in order for an organization to really grow and get big they have to preach a message that itching ears want to hear:

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4 KJV

This is why the pastor of one of the biggest mega churches (and all of the copycat mega churches) compels you to live your ‘Best Life Now’. This type of writing/preaching epitomizes the essence of the ‘prosperity gospel’ where God is a ‘genie in a bottle’ who will give you what you want if you rub the bottle the right way or say the right words.

According to Collins English Dictionary:

prosperity gospel n

(Protestantism) a modern version or, according to some, perversion of the gospel according to which the full blessings of God available to those who approach Him in faith and obedience include wealth, health and power

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers

The prosperity gospel preaching mega church must encourage worldly success to satisfy their lusts as the scripture says to fund their large buildings and large payroll. The pastors exist to stimulate church capital growth, not to stimulate spiritual growth of the flock.

If you don’t like what is going on at the big church what about going to a small church? Unfortunately most small churches are members of a very large denomination. Secondly, just because they are small doesn’t mean that they are exempt from the poison of the ‘prosperity gospel’. Many of the pastors, elders and congregants are enthralled with the TV ministries of the ‘name it and claim it’ brigade and would like some of that for themselves. The first thing that they do that doesn’t financially cost them anything is to embrace the false doctrine of the prosperity gospel. Many of these same churches also onboarding the ‘blessing’ of marrying those of the same sex under God’s roof. If people want to do that they may certainly take care of that civilly with a local justice of the peace; they don’t need a pastor for that. God has clearly defined that those who institutionalize that error will not have any part with God in the afterlife and will in fact reap a horrible reward for doing so (Romans Chapter 1). Don’t blame me if this upsets you-read the above biblical reference for yourself and decide.

What about the church’s (large and small) entanglement in things like being a community center to distribute an untested ‘vaccine’ that is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and over one million adverse events Why would churches agree to this? One reason. They got paid by the federal government. Most of them kept their doors shut for services while they opened up to give death and disability imparting vaccinations to their community. Is this activity ‘God honoring?’ I hardly think so.

Is it ‘God honoring’ for churches to be involved in the heinous activity known as ‘Clergy Response Teams’ who will be responsible for helping the ‘authorities’ move their parishioners into the FEMA camps during the next catastrophic social event? Don’t believe that the church is involved in this? I’ve written about this here and here. Ask your pastor like I did to his/her face if they are members of the clergy response team-they aren’t allowed to tell you the truth..if you ask, you’ll still be able to tell from their mousy response. After you ask them, you will most likely be excommunicated or shunned. There is always a price to be paid when speaking truth to power. Don’t be deceived. Is it any wonder why there has been a decline in church membership over the same time period we have seen an outbreak of anathemetic doctrine, flesh satisfying preaching and Hillsong’s ‘Naked Cowboy’? Suffice it to say we have seen the decline in the attendance of the American church mainly because of the ‘ideals’ of the American church.

So what is the answer for the average person or average family when it comes to honoring God through ‘corporate’ praise and worship? For me the answer is going back to where church began-in the home church.

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. Hebrews 10:25 KJV

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20 KJV

We need to gather regularly to praise and worship the Lord. We do -not- necessarily need to be the presence of hundreds or thousands to do so. After confronting 5 different pastors regarding their involvement in the clergy response teams my wife and I do worship at home. We support an independent, God honoring pastor and use his teaching to follow and study. It’s not hard. For a family this is a great opportunity to get everyone closer to Jesus. And if you are alone you are not ever really alone if you have Jesus with you. And you do not have to live with the guilt of being pressured to worship in the houses of the unholy.

If you can truly find a good small church where the pastor is -not- affiliated with the clergy response teams (this will be very difficult as estimates of pastors involved are 25,000-100,000 with some believing it is as many as perhaps 300,000 involved) that would be just great and you should do that and support that church. But I ask you to pray for God’s guidance to first ask the pastor to their face if they are members of the clergy response team before you commit yourself and your family to be under their teaching. If everyone did that I tell you that we would have a nation of home churches and would most likely have more committed, true and Holy Spirit filled Christians in America today.

In closing, it is OK to worship at home. Home churches is how the church started. Home churches propel the underground church in China. According to this article, China will be the largest Christian nation by 2030. In China they risk their lives by going to a home church because of the communist persecution. Would you be willing to risk your worldly relationship with a group of people who embrace false doctrine and worldly pursuits to gain a potentially unencumbered and simple worship experience under your own roof or the roof of a true friend? The coming persecution of real Christians is already happening; the coming return of Jesus Christ is the best reason to engage in worship where your eye is constantly on HIM.

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Stan Szymanski (or Encouraging Angels) is not a medical doctor. This is not medical advice. In all matters pertaining to the health and care of a human being consult a medical doctor. This is not legal, financial or personal advice. Consult appropriate professionals in those fields for that type of advice.