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Ironically, this is exactly the opposite path my family (my wife and three kids) have taken. We left a large evangelical church for a small progressive (UCC) ch

Ironically, this is exactly the opposite path my family (my wife and three kids) have taken. We left a large evangelical church for a small progressive (UCC) church.

partiallypro 8y ago
I think you're an outlier. Obviously I don't have a dataset, just my observation, but I've seen the "my father went to this church, so I'm going to go there too" die off. Now people will go to a larger church, especially younger people, because they can meet people their age. If you go to a small community church, you'll quickly find there might be one person your age, if at all, if you're in your 20s-30s. Now bigger churches do singles groups, etc. Zapping youth away from smaller churches effectively makes them unable to grow in the future, and their demographic target begins to die off or drop out. Church is very social, so the less people that go to the church that you know, the less likely you are to stick to it. It's very easy for a larger church to begin killing off smaller ones. It takes time, I believe this non-denominational /big church trend started 10 or so years ago...and is probably just now having a very noticeable statistical impact. Obviously, this could be regional as well, and we can't dismiss that people have become less religious in the traditional sense.
- xamuel 8y ago
  If a church is too large and non-denominational, it ends up being a YMCA with sermons. In other words, there's no more church there, just vague platitutes and networking. Jesus himself said: "Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." Big amphitheatre churches will flourish in the short run but they don't produce real roots, and in the long run they'll have about as much staying power as Javascript frameworks.
  - JoeAltmaier 8y ago
    Hm, The Mormons have been upsizing for a century with no sign of abating. How long do we wait for 'real roots' to matter?
- JshWright 8y ago
  > I think you're an outlier. I don't necessarily disagree (or, at least, I don't have the data to disagree). However, I'm definitely not unique in my experience. I can think of at least half a dozen people at my church (out of an active membership of ~150) that fit the description of "got fed up with the conservative politics of the 'Evangelical' church in America and sought out a church that better matches what we believe". Note, there's a difference here between churches that are happy to just ignore things like LGBT equality (there are certainly plenty of "big" churches that fall in this category) and churches that are actively open and affirming (that is far less common among "big" churches, in my experience).
pnathan 8y ago
Same; the church we are at now is an ecumenical affiliate of a Baptist group and a Presbyterian group. Very progressive. Growing fairly rapidly too right now, mostly people without grey hair; lots of toddlers and preschoolers.

Ironically, this is exactly the opposite path my family (my wife and three kids) have taken. We left a large evangelical church for a small progressive (UCC) church.

partiallypro 8y ago

I think you're an outlier. Obviously I don't have a dataset, just my observation, but I've seen the "my father went to this church, so I'm going to go there too" die off. Now people will go to a larger church, especially younger people, because they can meet people their age. If you go to a small community church, you'll quickly find there might be one person your age, if at all, if you're in your 20s-30s. Now bigger churches do singles groups, etc. Zapping youth away from smaller churches effectively makes them unable to grow in the future, and their demographic target begins to die off or drop out. Church is very social, so the less people that go to the church that you know, the less likely you are to stick to it. It's very easy for a larger church to begin killing off smaller ones. It takes time, I believe this non-denominational /big church trend started 10 or so years ago...and is probably just now having a very noticeable statistical impact. Obviously, this could be regional as well, and we can't dismiss that people have become less religious in the traditional sense.

xamuel 8y ago
If a church is too large and non-denominational, it ends up being a YMCA with sermons. In other words, there's no more church there, just vague platitutes and networking. Jesus himself said: "Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." Big amphitheatre churches will flourish in the short run but they don't produce real roots, and in the long run they'll have about as much staying power as Javascript frameworks.
- JoeAltmaier 8y ago
  Hm, The Mormons have been upsizing for a century with no sign of abating. How long do we wait for 'real roots' to matter?
JshWright 8y ago
> I think you're an outlier. I don't necessarily disagree (or, at least, I don't have the data to disagree). However, I'm definitely not unique in my experience. I can think of at least half a dozen people at my church (out of an active membership of ~150) that fit the description of "got fed up with the conservative politics of the 'Evangelical' church in America and sought out a church that better matches what we believe". Note, there's a difference here between churches that are happy to just ignore things like LGBT equality (there are certainly plenty of "big" churches that fall in this category) and churches that are actively open and affirming (that is far less common among "big" churches, in my experience).

pnathan 8y ago

Same; the church we are at now is an ecumenical affiliate of a Baptist group and a Presbyterian group. Very progressive. Growing fairly rapidly too right now, mostly people without grey hair; lots of toddlers and preschoolers.