Comments on: Michael Bell on “How the Recession May Fuel Church Growth”

By: roderick

roderick — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:50:58 +0000

I think this article raises many questions about the reality of the christian experience. All facets can be explored. I have to admit that I am poor with a capital “P” but one thing is for sure, God takes care of all of my needs. That’s the bottom line. Do I want a more prosperous life? Yes ! but Prosperity with balance: Peace of mind, joy, love, wisdom, gentleness..the fruits of the spirit. But I also want a family, a career that’s fulfilling, ect. But if God calls me to live what we might consider an impoverished life, then I have to trust some good will come out of it. It’s not always easy to walk in faith in Christ’s guidance but that is what we signed up for. For God’s will to be done. But in all honesty, God is Wonderful. he provides so much, I can’t really complain. I fear God enough to know that I’ve led a life of sin and selfishness until I repented and began to put my trust in Him. God knows who I am. I just want to please him with my faith. I’m actually sick and tired of worrying about my life. God is so good. I’m just going to continue asking his guidance and provision. Whatever He wants to do just let him do. Don’t worry.

By: JK

JK — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:39:55 +0000

The funny thing is that I can’t find anywhere in the Bible where the Apostle Paul returns in the heavens with great glory and power to reward those that obeyed his commandments. There are going to be a lot of people who will be rejected by Jesus when he returns (Many are called, but few are chosen)

By: JK

JK — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 12:15:45 +0000

Mostly sarcasm. I come from a place where the teachings of Paul are held in great esteem and the teachings of Jesus have little or no value. So naturally anyone spending more time serving God than making money is shamed and outcast as commanded by Paul himself.

By: Joel

Joel — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 13:09:08 +0000

Michael, this comment is not a part of the immediate ongoing conversation here but just an anecdote from Japan to support what you are saying. The church in Japan grew tremendously immediately after WWII when the country was in shambles, but as soon as Japan started becoming more prosperous the church growth began to wane. The majority of pastors in Japan are 60-75 years old as they were some of the many who became new believers when the war was over. There has been general apathy toward any kind of religion in Japan over the last few decades which coincides with the remarkable economic growth Japan experienced. Although there are many factors contributing to the spiritual condition in Japan, I hope the recession will cause many in Japan to toward Christ!

By: Eclectic Christian - Michael Bell

Eclectic Christian - Michael Bell — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 03:04:19 +0000

JK,

Huh???

Serious?

Sarcasm?

Can’t really tell.

By: JK

JK — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 08:50:07 +0000

Brothers, I must again remind you of the sacred commandment given to Paul; that is of work being supremely important to the faith. I therefore command you in the name of Jesus, if any man that does not have a job attempts to enter your congregation, you must immediately remove him from your midst, make an example of him and bring shame on him and his family. Have no mercy on him, have nothing to do with him, and do not allow him or his family to eat, for he is worse than an unbeliever. If any man or angel tries to tell you otherwise, then you will know that they are of Satan, as what I have spoken is sound doctrine and scripture. All scripture is inspired of God, and all prophecy is inspired of God, and all that is spoken in church is inspired of God, and at no time does what is spoken in church come from the interpretation of men.

By: Patrick Lynch

Patrick Lynch — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:21:52 +0000

Michael, thats really fascinating. Thanks!

By: Eclectic Christian - Michael Bell

Eclectic Christian - Michael Bell — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:54:16 +0000

Patrick,

“is there data on the characteristics of joiners during recession times at all though?”

We do have data on how people have changed their religious belief which was asked during the 2001 ARIS survey. (Incidentally also taken during an economically depressed time.) You can see the data here. Pages 24 or 25 are the significant ones for this question. The question was asked if people used to have a different religious belief.

Only 1.1 million (roughly .5 of one percent) said that they had ever switched from No-Religion to something else. So any other growth that denominations would have had would have been from other churches, or nominal Christians returning to their church roots. They study in the current post shows that their has been a huge shift from mainline churches to Evangelical churches. There has also been a huge shift to no-religion, probably at the expense of mainline and catholic churches. (People are leaving evangelical churches too, but the inflows have been greater than the outflows to this point in time.)

By comparing data between the 1990 and 2001 ARIS and then look at the transfer numbers, we can see that all the Catholic growth can be attributed to immigration.

So to answer your question, I think it does primarily involve people coming back to church, but not necessarily the church of their youth.

I hope this helps, trying to grasp who is moving where can be really hard to peg down numerically without reanalyzing the raw data.

By: Ro

Ro — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:24:25 +0000

‘Not’, yes.

By: Patrick Lynch

Patrick Lynch — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:12:17 +0000

Michael Bell, do these stats indicate the church-attending habits or values of that percentage of believers among whom church attendance increases?

We’d like to think of increased church attendance in times of economic stress as consisting of ‘new converts, people discovering Christ for the first time, but I’d guess a lot of those who return to the church during times of stress are people whose whole dealings with church is longstanding but fundamentally transient; is there data on the characteristics of joiners during recession times at all though?