When Joyce Gibbs began attending Zion Lutheran in Phillipsburg, Kan.,
in 1954, the congregation had to set up extra chairs in the aisle
during worship services. In 1964 a new building was constructed to
accommodate the rapidly growing congregation.
“We were
really a thriving congregation. We had good attendance, an active
junior and senior Luther League, a couples group ...,” said Gibbs, who
lives in rural Phillipsburg, with a population of about 2,500.
Today,
Zion's average attendance has dwindled to about 50 and Sunday school
is now a one-room class with a handful of mixed-aged youth. Lorna
Paulus, the pastor who divides her time between Zion and nearby St. John Lutheran Church in
Kensington, Kan., attributes the decline to several factors, including
the loss of industry in the town, elderly members who have died and
lack of young families coming up behind them.
What
we're seeing is not just a backlash against hymnals and potlucks.
Nearly every U.S. Christian denomination has seen membership declines in
the past two years, including Southern Baptists, who seemed invincible
in the '70s, '80s and '90s.
And in 2012 the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reported
for the first time that the number of Americans identifying as
Protestant dipped below half, to 48 percent. Only Roman Catholics seem
to be hanging on, which experts attribute to a growing Latino
population.
Read more: The Lutheran | The shrinking church: Congregations look for solutions as they face declines in membership, attendance
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