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Will the Last Pastor in Babylon Please Turn Off the Lights?

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Tuesday December 02, 2025 · 11:28 AM PST

2025/12/02 · 11:28

Will the Last Pastor in Babylon Please Turn Off the Lights?

TL;DR

In the last twenty years, church attendance in America has collapsed. Today only one in four Americans attend weekly services, while two‑thirds report seldom or never attending. Casual believers have disappeared, leaving churches to cater to the most devout. This decline is driven by multiple forces: mediocre leadership, lack of daily relevance, failure to create meaningful experiences, and disconnection from lived realities. For believers, this feels like cultural unraveling. For those leaving, it is an exodus toward an ill‑defined promised land, uncertain yet full of possibility.

The interplay of the personal and the institutional

Recently, I had an interesting conversation with a good friend. This friend is an ordained pastor in a mainline denomination.

She had recently been talking with mutual friends, and she said that I am still missed at church, and they would love it if I were to come back.

It took me a moment to realize that I do not miss church.

To speak in the plainest of languages, American Christianity is failing institutionally and individually. It does not meet the practical or spiritual needs of its people and the resulting decline in attendance is neither tragedy nor farce; it is quite simply transition.

Significant bodies of research tell the same story. Over the last few decades, the number of people attending church has continuously declined, while the number of people claiming no specific religious affiliation has continued to grow. Membership and attendance in all churches continues to decline across the United States.

Hiding in the numbers our countless stories of broken hearts and expectations not met. Individuals who hope the church will be a place in which they can find meaning and relationship. Individuals who believe that they can become ordained and make a positive difference in people's lives. There is both pain and liberation for those who leave the church behind.

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