TJGospels

I'm framing this as a general question rather than a specifically Christian question. There are likely books and articles on this topic I'll have to look up as well. It is clear that countries which enjoy a high level of trust tend to have higher average incomes and higher levels of happiness. Which makes sense since corruption is minimized and plans are actually followed through as per original agreements. I know quite a few churchgoers who are prosperous and appear to have happy family lives. Although I can probably say the same for individuals who are not churchgoers as well. I wonder if in my own case I am having unrealistic expectations on how a higher standard of morality would have impacted my quality of life. I believe God has answered my prayers on several occasions almost immediately. But my level of stress which caused me to follow this path, while it has subsided, has far from disappeared. I'm almost certain that I've been expecting too much too soon, and there is clear evidence that God has helped me and that I am improving week to week, but maybe I got ahead of myself and expected too much too soon.

I'm getting more emails from churches that are reducing the number of sunday services. It looks like local churches have lost about a third of their members in the past couple of years.

I'd like to find a church where I'm not overwhelmed by a sense of boredom and repetition before during and after.

Yeah it's confirmed: the flirtatious married lady has been replaced in her position. She's not listed anywhere among church staff.

Open preaching doesn't turn people off. It creates an unexpected pressure and sense of accountability when they least expect it. Going to a busy shopping mall connotes fun, relaxation and enjoyment. Christianity in its institutional form is full of dour hymnals, an extremely old, tired, suffering elderly population and endless admonitions on any attempt to enjoy oneself. Services have gotten shorter and shorter as people's attention spans shorten increasingly over time. They are less able to talk about "hell," not that they could have expounded in any meaningful, rational way prior, but any mention of the topic now could lead to a decline in revenue. Churches are trapped by their inherent asceticism when 99.99999% of the rest of the world just wants to have fun. How do you sell infinite restraint in a fun loving world? Answer is, you can't.

Anyone looking for a wonky, feel good counter at this point is engaging in wishful thinking. Attendance TANKED over the past 2 and a half years. And it will not recover anytime soon. The most likely scenario is that churches bleed more and more members and attendees over time. They've capitulated to a far greater degree than they needed to (which was not at all), and deliberately attempted to keep members aways physically so what else could they have expected? Even with their emphasis on revenue vs substance, they still can't seem to make wise decisions. A few mega churches will remain, maybe for 20 years, maybe 30, but they've already shown their weak underbelly. They are willing to close their doors at the drop of a hat. They are literally willing to lose 19,000 attendees on the pointless whim of corrupt government officials. When returning in 2021ish, churches had dropped so sharply in what they could or would offer, it was chilling. The only option now is to watch the slow decline as the carnival barkers go kaput. And they have no-one to blame but themselves.

There was a small, local-ish contingent which tried that, street preaching that is. They gave up after a while. Like all street vendors they chose one of the busiest spots in town. It made no difference. They stacked a lot of small tricks to try to convince people there was a 'crowd' but they couldn't gain any momentum. Enormous numbers of hours invested for little conversion outcome. It might sound like a good idea, but most people view street preachers as a nuisance to be avoided, even a menace. As far as small groups, it's tough to maintain them without some avenue to replenish participants, which is usually a church. It's not one or the other. Christianity just isn't trending these days, marijuana and sitting on the couch are meanwhile.

Nice ideas in theory. In reality churches have been overtaken with communist ideas and the demographic shift makes most look like senior citizen's communities. Kids have no choice but once they become a bit more independent, starting in high school, churches bleed out members heavily. Churches seem "OK" with the big declines in attendance as long as coffers are filled but they're just a generation away from the crisis stage. You could say the crisis period has already begun.

The women iq are both married to church staff, who are still listed as such. The wives, not so much. Clearly, the women are being singled out. I'm curious as to what happened, but the church is so small, it would feel strange going back. They used to attract many younger adults, but have taken great measures to push their main demographic away. The church is basically a shell of it's former self.

Curiously, the offending women at the TCIQ are no longer staff listed. Perhaps they're on a mission. Maybe they're working at or attending a different church. Most likely, since they were subject to a public, specific and rather prolonged reprimand, their "services" are being de-emphasized. Sensible move on the church's part but merely a drop in the bucket.... This is no longer a faith issue, but an issue of boredom.

As a brief update, I'm completely burned out with just about every "local" church I've attended. When I drive out of town, there are certainly far better services to be sure, but even there, attendance has taken a very big hit. Services which used to be filled are now near empty auditoriums in some cases, often only a quarter full. Every church I've attended locally and out of town is very seriously compromised. As in, none are really christian churches with serious pastors. Mainly, the pastors are grinding away tending to their oldest, most devoted followers who keep the coffers filled (mostly).

This is at the heart of the problem with so-called christianity and christians today: lowering the bar over and over again until the church and christians are so debased and sinful that the church is even more sinful than the secular world. Ironically, the more fake christians lower the bar, the more church attendance and engagement suffer so it doesn't work anyway.

Tax exempt status compromises most all churches to a laughable degree. Reading the banner/headlines on any church website is just like reading the ticker tape on CNN or headline news. It's not even an issue of integrity anymore: church staff need MONEY and in order to make MONEY they need to support whatever evil agenda the government is imposing on all of us, or at least trying to. Sometimes the impact is superficial, but sometimes the impact is severe and the staff wholeheartedly go along with the evil government agenda 100%. The churches I'm attending support the official narratives on a superficial level, but actually offer messages of substance or at least do their best to try to. The buffoonery and lies are often so extreme though it makes me wonder what I'm doing at church at all. Any legitimate christian who thinks most churches are operating in a principled way these days is fooling themselves.

People in cars, on the patio, in church, online, what a sad example of the outcome of the successful divide and conquer strategy of the anti-Christian left. I guess church "leadership" has to kowtow to whatever fears are circulating, however irrational or even absurd.

As you all know, I'v been doing a lot of research on which church I would feel comfortable and enjoy attending. I actually think I've found several. The thing is, I'm enjoying attending different churches and seeing if I "click" with one or several. In doing so, I've noticed that just about every church has taken a major hit in live attendance. Obviously, through no fault of their own. However, this does tend to lend a 'somber' rather than festive feel with so many empty seats most anywhere you go. Clearly, there are people watching a live stream, watching outdoors in some cases, in their cars, listening to a podcast later when they have time, etc. But when I compare current attendance with photos of from years past, it's hard to ignore the fact that almost every room has far fewer people in 2022 compared to 2020 and prior. One of the larger churches in our area is likely down at least by a third. I wouldn't be surprised if live attendance was down by closer to 50%. They claim that there has been no decline if online viewership is counted, but I seriously doubt this claim. This church initiated some severe reductions in staff salary and I doubt that they've been able to recoup enough revenue to return to their previous incomes. It's likely that the pastors were all making at least $100K, as they were all able to afford expensive luxury sports equipment reserved for people in that income bracket. I'm wondering what churches are doing to strategize in light of this ongoing and likely future long term decline in attendance and accompanying decline in revenue. Perhaps we all just need to organize christian meetings ourselves, sans offices, buildings and salaries. There are many, many, many corrupt churches and I don't feel the least bit sorry for the decline in revenue they experience. However, there are also tons of churches with the highest levels of integrity and those are the churches I feel badly for. I'm hoping these are the churches that pull through these trying times.