Stabilized

Recently, I shared some results from a new Pew study that shows that an apparently years-long decline in the percentage of Americans claiming to be Christians has leveled off. In this case, stability is better than continued decline, but we certainly need to reverse this trend. In our own lives, we shouldn't be satisfied with standing still, although it's only slightly better than the alternative of regression. Paul wrote about this in Philippians chapter 3:
12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

We should always take steps toward spiritual growth, and the Church should be on the forefront of facilitating that. 

I spoke a couple of weeks ago about new data released by Pew Research in another edition of the Religious Landscape Study.  The survey summary said that in this most recent study, conducted over a seven-month span in 2023 and 24: "62% of U.S. adults identify as Christians. That is a decline of 9 percentage points since 2014 and a 16-point drop since 2007."  But it adds, "...for the last five years, between 2019 and 2024, the Christian share of the adult population has been relatively stable, hovering between 60% and 64%. The 62% figure in the new Religious Landscape Study is smack in the middle of that recent range."

There are other areas of spiritual practice that have stabilized among American adults, as well. The summary relates:

• Though down significantly since 2007, the share of Americans who say they pray daily has consistently held between 44% and 46% since 2021. In the new RLS, 44% say they pray at least once a day.
• Similarly, since 2020, the percentage of U.S. adults who say they attend religious services monthly has hovered in the low 30s. In the new RLS, 33% say they go to religious services at least once a month.

The summary also notes:

Moreover, the survey shows that large majorities of Americans have a spiritual or supernatural outlook on the world.

For example:

• 86% believe people have a soul or spirit in addition to their physical body.
• 83% believe in God or a universal spirit.
• 79% believe there is something spiritual beyond the natural world, even if we can’t see it.
• 70% believe in an afterlife (heaven, hell or both).

These are not necessarily Biblical beliefs, but do point to an awareness of some sort of spirituality - that there is more than just what we experience in our natural realm. 

One troubling sign is that Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 are far less likely to engage in religious practice than those 75 and up.  For instance, only 46% of these younger adults identify as Christian vs. 80% of the older ones.  Just about a-quarter of younger adults pray daily & attend religious services monthly.  That contrasts with 58% of those 75+ who pray daily and around half of that age group who attend religious services at least once a month.  That is a major issue that the Church is grappling with these days. 

This spiritual stability can also be described as spiritual stagnation.  And, that is detrimental to a culture and to an individual Christian.  Our challenge in the Church is to find ways to generate an upward trend in a society that claims to be spiritual generally, but, in practice, possesses less than half its population that prays on a daily basis and about a-third who go to church.  

A good sign is that there is a widespread belief in the supernatural - that's a good starting point, a potential building block. But that general belief has to be transformed into a specific practice - a shift from murky beliefs to concrete action.  Just as James said faith without works is dead, belief has to be lived out. 

This can cause us to examine our own lives: are we pressing on, as the apostle Paul declared?  Or have we pressed "pause" in our lives.  Are we seeking the Lord more diligently and faithfully than we used to or have we allowed complacency to set in?  Then, there's that other choice, in addition to forward movement and stagnation - have we regressed? The apostle John wrote to the Church at Ephesus in the book of Revelation, calling it out for losing its first love. If that is the case, you can recapture that devotion - come before the Lord, repent, and, as Scripture says in Revelation 2, verse 5: "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place--unless you repent."  A life of keeping short accounts before the Lord can result in a pliable, repentant heart and a life that reflects spiritual growth rather than regression or standing still.