Salisbury Post: Willimon: Mainline is going to be sidelined
... It’s not that people are leaving mainline churches to join these other churches. Instead, they typically drop out of church-going altogether, Willimon said. “Mainline Protestantism was the last stop.”
Why? Mainline churches “had unknowingly given people a theology of godlessness,” Willimon said.
“We adjusted so much to the culture that the line between church and Rotary seemed rather thin.”
The theology of accommodation that served well during times of cultural satisfaction has proved unsuited to the modern-day dissatisfactions people are experiencing in their jobs, family and lives, he said. They’re looking for a faith that looks at what’s wrong with the world.
The people who remain in mainline churches tend to be older, he said, and some predict a “death tsunami” will decimate the congregations. ...
(HT: Alan Bevere)
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