Decline

Jesus gave His life so that men and women can come to be in a relationship with Him and with His people in the body of Christ, His Church, which has outposts in local churches around the world. 1st Corinthians 12 says:
12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.

Bottom line - we belong.  Certainly, we belong to God and He has brought us into fellowship with Himself through Christ.  And, we belong to one another - we are now part of His body, and He desires for us to come together in unity for His purposes in the church, so that the people with whom we interact, through cities, counties, and communities, may see His love in operation.  We are not to merely be receivers of His love, but we are called to be active participants in His work.
 

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We are united in Christ and bond together around the truth of His Word and the hope we possess in Him. Hebrews 10 states:
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,
25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

The practice of attending church is pointed out to us in Hebrews chapter 10, yet across the religious spectrum, membership in local bodies has been on the decline. A relatively new Gallup poll summary relates that...

Americans' membership in houses of worship continued to decline last year, dropping below 50% for the first time in Gallup's eight-decade trend. In 2020, 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque, down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999.

When Gallup first started polling this question - in 1937 - church membership was at 73% and stayed around 70 percent for about 60 years, until things started declining in the 2000's.  The summary states:

The decline in church membership is primarily a function of the increasing number of Americans who express no religious preference. Over the past two decades, the percentage of Americans who do not identify with any religion has grown from 8% in 1998-2000 to 13% in 2008-2010 and 21% over the past three years.

Most of the rest of that decline has to do with the lack of formal church membership of those who have expressed a preference. And, the concept of church membership does seem to be germaine to older generations; as Gallup states: "66% of traditionalists -- U.S. adults born before 1946 -- belong to a church, compared with 58% of baby boomers, 50% of those in Generation X and 36% of millennials." There is limited data for Generation Z members who are now adults.

And, there's this statistic: "Currently, 31% of millennials have no religious affiliation, which is up from 22% a decade ago. Similarly, 33% of the portion of Generation Z that has reached adulthood have no religious preference."

So, that's the "what." But, why is this happening? The Gallup summary offered a small amount of analysis, stating, "The U.S. remains a religious nation, with more than seven in 10 affiliating with some type of organized religion. However, far fewer, now less than half, have a formal membership with a specific house of worship." It also says that, "Because it is unlikely that people who do not have a religious preference will become church members, the challenge for church leaders is to encourage those who do affiliate with a specific faith to become formal, and active, church members."

The surface "whys" are lack of religious preference and those that have one not becoming church members.  But, there is no doubt an assortment of reasons why people are not affiliating with a local church.

I would offer several.  One is that there are different ways to worship.  People now engage online, especially since the pandemic, but the "electronic church" has seemingly been trending for years. The traditional sense of "belonging" to a church is not what it used to be.

We also have to consider the role of church membership.  There is certainly an emphasis on church attendance, but is there a de-emphasis on being a member?  Just asking. The Bible teaches us to not forsake assembling together, and I would submit that churches do offer opportunities for involvement, whether or not the participants are church members.  The benefit of church membership is to give those members a place to belong and remind them of their Christian duty to participate in the work of His Church. 

But, by and large, the decline in church membership is related to the condition of the heart. It's not hard to discern that there is a departure from living according to religious principles.  A person who is not devoted to growing in Christ is likely not going to be an enthusiastic participant in the local church. And, if the local church body has departed from upholding the truth of God's Word, then people will not be fed the right spiritual nutrients in order to grow and develop in his or her walk.  Our dedication to the centrality of Scripture and living it out will attract people to know the God whom we claim we serve.