
Are Nondenominationals the Future of American Christianity?
The number of Christians who have joined nondenominational churches continues to grow, even as mainline church numbers steadily shrink.
Change is afoot for Christianity in America. According to Ed Stetzer, the dean of Leadership and Christian Ministry at Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology, “The trend, put simply, is toward large nondenominational Protestant churches, evangelical churches.”
Furthermore, Gardner-Webb University historical theology professor Steve Harmon observes, “Every single denomination that keeps records, and that’s pretty much all of them, is in decline.”
Roughly 140 million Americans identify as Protestant. In the early 1970s, the percentage of those Protestants who identified as “nondenominational” accounted for less than 3%. Somewhere along the line, that changed in a big way. As of 2022, the percentage of nondenominational Protestants has ballooned to almost 35%. Over the last 10 years, the number of nondenominational churches has grown by more than 9,000.
Meanwhile, the total number of Americans identifying as Christians has been decreasing. Yet, Stetzer notes, “those who remain tend to create a more serious expression of their faith. It’s kind of like a reduction sauce: as the numbers decrease, the intensity increases.”
He notes that this is especially true for Millennials and Gen Z Christians, who “are showing signs of greater commitment, even as they navigate a cultural landscape where being religious sometimes comes with a price.”
In many ways, the growth of nondenominational Protestants has much to do with Millennial and Gen Z Christians seeking to take their faith seriously. Harmon explains, “There is this movement of younger evangelicals experiencing dissatisfaction with their own evangelical tradition and finding a sense of historic connection liturgy formation through what happens in historically grounded liturgies. There is an attraction to that among young people. But at the same time, there are fewer attachments to particular denominations among Protestants.”
As these nondenominational churches grow, old mainlines like the United Methodist, Episcopal, and Presbyterian (USA) Church have seen membership decline significantly. Why has this happened? Are these old mainline denominations too rigid in their government? Have they not adapted to better meet the needs of people living in modern America?
The answer is much more straightforward. Mainline denominations have largely abandoned any fidelity to Scripture. In many ways, they have become Christian in name only. In their pursuit of cultural acceptance, they have become worldly. They have left their first love — the Biblical Jesus, the real Jesus — for one of their own creations.
An recent example of this comes courtesy of Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde, who infamously scolded President Donald Trump during her “sermon” as she listed off a number of politically leftist views that directly run counter to the clear teachings of Scripture.
But Budde is not an outlier within the Episcopal Church; rather, she has come to represent the mainstream views and beliefs of that steadily shrinking mainline church. Does Budde even understand the Gospel? In 2011, when she became the first female bishop to serve at the National Cathedral, The Washington Post interviewed her about her views on Christianity and politics.
She explained that it was around conservative Christians that she had her “first conscious experience of Christ.” However, she never seemed able to accept the Biblical Gospel message. “They had a clear, ‘This is how you accept Jesus, this is how you become baptized, this is how you invite him to be your Lord and savior’ thing. I didn’t know what all that meant, but I wanted that. My heart was a lonely place. And the idea that Jesus would want to come into my heart — that was life-changing for me.”
However, she added, “I could not make sense of what they were saying: that there was one narrow path to salvation, and if you didn’t take it, you’d be denied.”
As a result, Budde has focused on promoting so-called “progressive Christianity,” which she expressed as her goal “to build up the liberal church.” She clearly sees Christianity through the lens of a political and social movement, which is why she saw it as appropriate to rebuke Trump in the manner that she did.
The truth, however, is that the Christian church is not solely for the political Right or the Left. Instead, it is Christ’s. Scripture clearly teaches that He is the head of the church, and it is only through faith in Him and His life, death, and resurrection that one is truly saved from sin and becomes a true Christian.
Thus, part of the reason America is seeing a rise in nondenominational churches is because too many mainline churches have abandoned the Gospel in favor of worldly wisdom.
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