...when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on Earth?" – Luke 18:8
I never found a church and doubt I will. I can't afford church. The teachings leave me cold. Remember in my case, I live a more affluent community, that affects the faith outlooks and types of church that are available. I continued some video tours of area churches, to see if I could find one that would work. There was this Lutheran church where the pastor taught God has made us [people in his church] all rich! Isn't that insane? He meant money too not spiritual richness! Watching this left me in shock. I wasn't interested on Lutheranism but ran across this local church by chance on YouTube.
The last thing I want to deal with now is some rich man demanding a 10 percent cut of our money or preaching things that have no relevance to my life. There's no discernment in these churches. They will tell me to support politicians and war efforts I do not support. The liberal ones will expect me to put aside values that are important to me and will support the system with pandemic mandates.
The reasons why I don't want to go to church anymore:
1. It's an inauthentic atmosphere. You can't be "real". Everything seems based on performance. It's not a place of close relationships or real connection but performative.
2. It is a high status society, those with higher status count the most. This is against the teachings of Jesus Christ [Luke 14] I saw this in multiple churches. I thought of "biker" churches and even ones that focused on the impoverished, but we didn't have churches like that here. There is one in the county but it would be a 50 mile round trip and we can't afford it. I considered going to an all African American church, there's no more segregated time than Sunday morning but many were prosperity gospel focused and did not find one that felt it was right for me.
3. It's a money focused society. I'm broke. I can't afford church. Yes, I know pastors need money to live. Professor Archive claims many are poor. Maybe churches where the pastors have outside careers are better because there's not as much pressure for cash among the congregation. Our financial life is so squeezed now, there's no money for anything else.
4. With my disabilities, even hearing a service in person is very difficult, my transcription phone works better one on one. Outside of my first good church in my rural town, I never found the connections/community I was looking for. The UU church was better but our beliefs were too different, and they went down a path with Covid and other matters I could not follow. Unless I move it's doubtful, I will be able to find a church again. Good ones simply aren't here.
5, Many churches are family focused, they even do things like title Wednesday services, "family training hour", those without a family don't fit in and these reminders can be painful on an ongoing basis.
6. Most of the churches around here are very pastor focused, you go and listen to the pastor speak for hours. My second IFB, independent bible studies weren't allowed, you couldn't talk about any religious or spiritual issues in any conversations. It was just listening to this one very boring elderly wealthy man, who loved war and the system speak on and on and on. [the UU was an exception to this and was lay-led as well with a minister doing sermons]
7. There's no discernment. If a pastor can't figure out something was off about Covid/Covid mandates or AI, or other developments in society, why am I even there following some guy that can't even get the smallest glimmer of reality about the world?
8. Watered down teachings. I like studying the Bible but when you repeat the same 10 stories and themes over and over, it gets boring. Some seem like they want to keep their congregants in kindergarten forever instead of studying even into junior high.
9. My own spiritual independence, I don't "fit" anywhere and question too many things. Yes it's my fault. Conspiracy theory truth seekers aren't exactly good fits in churches. Asking a pastor about the book of Enoch just makes them break out in sweats. I don't like how they portray God/Jesus more often than not. "Your God is cruel" and I think just follow this... John 10, "My Sheep Hear my Voice". ... I still ask questions or have beliefs that may get me in trouble in many places. It's easier at this point to remain independent. I watch a lot of Youtube channels, where the people on there talk about being Christians who have left churches.
This commenter is on to something.
"I think people are just tired of sitting on a bench, staring at the back of someone’s head, singing songs as some type of ritual, and listening to a speech. It’s no longer a family, but a corporation where you are the employee and the church is a corporation. Not all are that way, but most are."
So my search for a church hit a dead end, I sometimes do miss church activities and the community even now but realized there was nowhere for me to go. So I put church time into 'art time" and reading and watching spiritual things online and reading my Bible and praying.
One friend told me I should look into the Eastern Orthodox, no Pope but then they don't exactly follow Sola Scripture though I find some teachings interesting like theosis. Some seem very committed. Good Christians are in different places. I like some Catholic writings and stories of saints, I know some would find that odd in the evangelical world and call me a heretic.
I've been watching this channel on Youtube, now he uses AI for the imagery but the essays are good, Professor Archive is exploring the demise of churches in America. It's a very interesting channel.
Some common themes in his videos seem to be.
1. Young people are leaving churches. [by young, this would mean Gen X and below but Millennials and Gen Z are definitely dropping out.
2. Many churches have lost membership, especially evangelical and Protestant churches. He does seem to think the Eastern Orthodox are gaining in numbers, but I will write more on that later in this article.
3. The pastors know they are in trouble, and the financial picture is full of doom. Many pastors are leaving the field.
4. Prosperity gospel and Politics has ruined the churches.
5. Megachurches and televangelists are going out of style.
6. He talks about how Europe has departed from religion even more so.
8. He talks about the endless sex scandals and other corruption in churches and their leadership.
9. He talks about those who still believe but have left churches. He calls them "Church Refugees". This would describe me, although my matter was more complex going through my faith troubles and deconstruction. and those who have deconstructed and deconverted.
One video I want to add here is this one, African American churches are being affected too with these church trends. Young people are leaving there. I relate to a lot of this video such as when they talk about "Are you giving 10 percent of your paycheck to a pastor driving a Bentley?" This vlogger definitely refers to African American "church refugees" who still have faith but are done with the feckless pastors who demanded "seed money" and endless "offerings". He's right about the focus on materialism. He talks about TD Jakes and his scandals. He goes on to talk about how the pastor was made a false "middle man" and the false institution.
Professor Archive is right about young people leaving the churches and he provides stats in different videos. I saw this myself. My own generation was very rare in all churches I was in from conservative to liberal. I have written before Gen X kind of has dropped out of society, there's reasons for this. One thing I noticed is I was far younger than most members in all the evangelical churches I was in. People my age, who no longer lived at home were almost non-existent. This was true even of my second IFB circa 2015. I was in my 40s during the 2010s, and every adult in the church was over 60. Baby Boomers dominated every church I was in, even the UU.
The young are checking out, and by young I even mean Gen X and below, because the churches don't pay attention to their concerns, their lives and other issues. There's a point I think where the young simply became voiceless in churches. I'm not sure how that happened. All the focus on helicopter parenting and over-focus on the elders? One thing I noted was all the churches I was in, evangelical included, had youth groups but the kids simply didn't come back to church when they were adults. They stopped attending. Sometimes I think the only reason I was a rare Gen Xer in churches was due to being disabled, I was "retired" young in other words. People my age had other things to do. Work tired them out.
I was a moderator on a deconstruction board for some years. I talked myself on there how unsatisfied I was with the evangelical world. I recovered my faith but the churches nearly pounded it to dust for good. There were many people in their 20s-40s on this deconstruction board. Many talked about how the churches did nothing but criticize them and made endless demands that did not match economic realities. They talked about the harm of purity culture, the pressure to marry young and not pursue educations, the damage from home schooling where they missed out on educational milestones. God seemed cruel and distant to them too. This society is ruining so many spiritually even from its coldness and heartlessness. Where's the love for God or fellow humans in a country that is okay with making people live in tents or storage units without heat or cooling?
Many when entering the "real world" outside of their parent's tutelage, realized how woefully prepared they were. Their churches ignored their concerns, and this was true of me except in my own decent IFB with the sincere pastor. Many talked about spiritual abuse and extreme authoritarianism. Spiritual abuse was part of my past too. One thing I noted in that world, and I hope I was able to help some, was a lot of people were fellow ACONS. Narcissism was dominant in their families and religion used as a tool to "keep them in line".
The authoritarianism and oppression of youth in general is one problem I always had with churches especially after James Dobson broke out on the scene. They promoted parents controlling kids instead of guiding them. They promoted physical punishments, instead of teaching self regulation. The young people knew they had been let down. Many were done with church just based on all these negative experiences. Some retained faith but some did not.
One aspect with churches I believe leading them to failure is their completely and utter abandonment of young people with it comes to how the economy works. Outside of my one good IFB where the pastor warned hard times were coming for America economically, no church dealt with economic reality. They were too busy trying to scoop up as much cash as they could. The UUs weren't greedy like this, but in their wealth they ignored what was happening to young people.
Young people because they cannot afford rent, or groceries and are being crushed by the cost of living, really find no outlet in churches. Will any of the churches address these issues? I doubt they are even now. Some poorer older people too are abandoned too by churches who won't admit what is happening out there.
If your church is joined with those oppressing you, aka the ruling class, the establishment, what good are they? Hmm if I had to sum up my answer to why I don't go to church it would be this. "Because they lick the boots of the ruling class!" I even think about my old UU pastor, nice guy but the heavy promotion of the Covid vaxx, that meant I and he were done for good. Yes, I did warn him, in emails, you all know in 2021, I was reading all this stuff about the vaxx. It was just more not being listened to. That happened in other churches too, with the second IFB pastor, I wanted to talk about the bible, he treated me like an underling wasting this time. That happened a lot with these rich pastors, the narcissism was off the chart. They were always these busy "glad-hander" types. The sincere guy was more shy, that was more trustworthy than the ones who were so popular and "charismatic".
One question I have for people reading this, if you got to church is your pastor talking about the true state of the economy is he admitting it? There are some churches who do help the poor and homeless, surely some of them are seeing the numbers go up. Do any of them talk about it? There's Barber but he seems like a rare exception.
And speaking of young people, when they have no money to even afford a life of their own and pay for the basics, how are they going to pour money and energy into a church? Someone with two jobs who can't even keep the rent paid isn't going to be building the foundations of a community church, they simply can't. They can't afford the 10 percent tithes. Some pastors don't realize the heavy burdens they lay on people like Pharisees is having some stay away. I noticed a few times, that Professor Archive basically was stating that churches will be closing their doors. These pastors who have neglected to even mention the economic realities of today betrayed young people too.
Information is more available too, some are questioning their church's teachings. With the internet, you can explore any and every religion and churches teachings and study bible versions, history, and other faith issues. The young have access to websites that may even question their branch of religion, their pastors and more. They may go into faith exploration or periods of doubt or questioning. They may deconstruct or even deconvert. I deconverted very young, the internet wasn't around but the library fueled my doubts.
Nowadays with the internet and online communities where you can discuss things, the young have access to far more education. Some will be truth seekers. They may still love Jesus but they aren't going to put up with as much bologna from pastors. In the 80s the televangelists were going strong, there was one Elmer Gantry like fellow who would "sell" magic water for a donation on the TV. Jim Bakker got his cash, golden dog house, and then got hit with scandals. Back then there was a lot of money to be handed over. Todays young aren't so naive. An educated person with full access to the internet and news about church scandals isn't going to be filling up money envelopes for these shysters.
The Baby Boom generations back in the 60s and 70s had the New Age groups, Utopian groups and Jesus freak groups break out in the 1970s. They were more apt to join religious groups. Of course tradition back in the 50s was you went to church wherever your family did and followed in their footsteps. That's another issue that has emptied out the churches, economic nomads who have to move for jobs, don't follow Mom and Dad into their home church. That has broken up with the demise of family and connections.
Gen X kind of checked out, we saw those wayward televangelists get caught, we got disgusted watching Bakker with his dog house, and creepy Pat Robertson demanding more money on the 700 Club. While strong faith can be found among Gen Xers, we trust institutions far less. Why should we? They are so corrupt now. It is interesting that Professor Archive, has done several videos on the demise of megachurches and televangelists. Joel Osteen stepped down but had been losing members. Copeland has lost members. Some megachurches have closed and shut down. It's obvious these churches focusing on prosperity gospel are going to fail especially in the Depression 2.0 economy. With time, people will learn the theology of these money-masters simply has failed and is empty inside.
The truth of the economy is closing the doors even of decent churches and sincere pastors, with congregations of people who can't afford their basic bills anymore, so that's part of things too.
Churches are losing membership, that's a known fact. I visited churches in this town 20 years ago when I first moved here, and then 10 years ago looking for churches [after I left Calvary Chapel which closed soon after.] There were churches with 6 people in them for Sunday service all over the age of 65. A lot of churches in this town close and this is probably true all over. You see a church that is there one day gone the next.
Professor Archive says the Orthodox church in America is growing. Many all the disaffected evangelicals are filling their pews. There may be a novelty factor there too or an idea of more tradition and thousands of years of history. The evangelical world moved towards shallowness, maybe people see more depth with the Orthodox. I've pondered the Orthodox church but have too many misgivings based on Sola Scripture and other teachings. I don't know what direction the Catholic church is taking. I have issues with the Vatican and other teachings though there's parts of it I have nostalgia for like the nuns.
Some pastors know there is trouble, you can't keep a church going when every member is over 70. My last two churches, most members were over 65 years of age. Younger adults were either few in number or just not there at all. Prosperity gospel ruined the churches, it may sell when people are flush with cash, but when the money doesn't pour in and you get poorer and poorer, the false promises are obvious. Trying to sell Prosperity gospel during the Second Depression is just dumb.
People also have tired of the culture wars, I know I got tired of it all, left and right battling it out. Woke vs Christian Nationalism. I can't stand either side. That probably applies to some others. If one isn't a Republican or a Democrat where do you go to church? Where do you go to church if you want a pastor who isn't a bootlick to the Establishment or ruling class or globalists? Bill Gates was a great guy in my old UU church. Trump was the Orange 'savior" in the second IFB. People are worn out. Some are realizing things aren't adding up. There's only so much they can excuse as real life implodes. How many churches questioned Covid? A few stayed opened and protested mandates but they were the minority.
Megachurches will fail, they remind people of corporate conference halls, fake smiles, like a hotel meeting. The pastors carry their briefcases full of money, and there's endless employees to keep the showtime going. If you need a shuttle bus to go to church, you're in a crowd not a close group of people who will have your back. Europe is far more secular. I have European friends, church isn't even part of their world. They tell me America is so religious. No one goes to church here but very old people or if there is a wedding.
I do think there are many who still believe in God but are done with church, I found the videos on church refugees of interest.
Some explore house churches though that's a gamble. People do seem to want more authenticity. I always thought there should be churches for poor people to have community and pray, but then no pastor would be making money in a group of impoverished people. Some may find me too cynical about churches, remember I had good experiences like with my first IFB. I did find these videos interesting though about the trends now happening.
Five Hundred Pound Peep: Churches and Me
No comments:
Post a Comment