The High Cost of Consumer Christianity

For the past four decades, the local and institutionalized church has positioned itself as a place to be entertained, discover your purpose, and “plug in” to community. And it’s a strategy that’s been wildly successful.

Until now.

Echoing national trends of a growing distrust of “large institutions,” a 2017 Gallup poll found that only 41% of Americans view the Church as a “trustworthy organization.”

According to a Barna research study, only 2 out of 10 millennials believe church attendance is “important or worthwhile.”

At the same time, nearly 40% of millennials consider themselves “Religiously Unaffiliated.” Additionally, members of Gen Z (the generation currently leaving high school) are twice as likely to identify as atheists than the general population.

What happens to large institutions when people begin to lose faith in large institutions?

In other words, what happens when miming secular culture finally leads the Church down a road it can’t follow without dismantling itself?

While high profile scandals, partisan politics, and generational shifts in opinion regarding controversial social issues certainly contribute to the modern disillusionment of organized religion, I believe a much larger unifying force at play here.