@FryedOreo
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 4:22

Churches On The Decline In America

article image placeholderUploaded by @FryedOreo
But that is becoming just a vague idea in today's climate where we perhaps are now more connected than ever through things such as social media and the Internet. And that could give rise to some beliefs within those turning away from the faith that their parents and grandparents and great grandparents once lived by

Does this coincide with faith? https://s.swell.life/STTmbldgnLUbGoy

9
@FryedOreo
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 4:37

@raisin91

Should faith adapt with the times or should people adapt in spite of the times to the faith? I guess that's the going struggle. I wonder what are your thoughts on it? Do you feel as though you at times have too much liberty and how you pursue your faith? Or is your faith to some extent always in honor to God rather than to your liberty? Curious how you perceive faith in modern day and do you feel churches need to be around at all?
2
@Phil
phil spade
@Phil · 4:03

@raisin91 @FryedOreo

They're going to push the mom and pop out. And I think the megachurches are kind of doing the same with a lot of other churches here. I'm not saying I disagree with the article and I'm not saying I disagree with you. Dewuan I do think that there is some fall off from people not being religious
4
@FryedOreo
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 4:11

@raisin91

But now the adults are wanting the Happy Meals with limited edition prizes in memorabilia. So I guess that's just the way of the land. You have to adapt because change is inevitable, even for your faith. Thank you both for participating in this conversation about churches
2
@Brkntobldness
Debbie Griffiths
@Brkntobldness · 4:54

@raisin91 @Phil @FryedOreo

But I think the bigger issue at hand and why there's a decline in attendance is we've taken God out of so many things in our lives. And I have a very big concern about moral relativism and how it is leaning to a decline in the two parent households. There's an increase in crime and violence. I do think people are lost. They're searching for hope. They're searching for that guiding light and not always sure where the best way to find it
3
@futurenmdyogi

#religion #christianity #buddhism #yoga #dharma #faith #mindbodyspirit #healingjourney

And so it's been a very expansive and nourishing and liberating experience for me to be able to pursue my own spirituality in a way that is only defined by me. And as I said, in a way that nourishes. Me and connects me in a way that is healthy and in a way that strives to help solve problems of the problems of the world rather than create them rather than creating more suffering in this world. So, yeah, that's how I would answer all of this
3
@FryedOreo
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 2:37

@Brkntobldness

And if so, how is that experience? I'm curious about that. And how do you see Christianity in the future on the web and social media? Do you see it becoming great spaces to practice your faith, or do you find it to be too much change for you to handle at times and you would prefer a brick and mortar setting? I'm curious about that
1
@FryedOreo
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 4:05

@futurenmdyogi

Hello, Steve. Thank you for taking the time not only to listen to this swell, but to also offer an audio response as we talk about the faith in America and brickandmortar churches on the decline. And we've had a varied amount of responses, some saying that this is due to more of a lifestyle change of those who are gathering of the faith, not necessarily to go to a brickandmortar establishment, but preferring other means of interpretation of their faith
1
@Brkntobldness
Debbie Griffiths
@Brkntobldness · 2:52

@FryedOreo

For me, Mass is only an hour long and for me on Sundays, god has blessed me so much in my own life that I still want to give him at least an hour of mine on Sunday. And so I did attend the virtually mass. And is it the same? No, of course not. Because you don't have that community. You don't have people next to you to give each other the peace of Christ after Communion or to be able to receive Communion in person
3
@OmegaStrange
Demarkis Klan Destine
@OmegaStrange · 4:46
It seems like with every new generation, religion loses its popularity. And maybe that has a lot to do with how society is growing. The more advanced technology becomes, science less towards religion. You can go to the doctor now instead of trying to pray for God or sacrifice a child or whoever, you can go to the doctor to get care or to get treatment. Me and you were talking about this a few days ago off the habit
1
@futurenmdyogi

@FryedOreo #yoga #buddhism #dharma

I'm not trying to say that there's not, but yeah, it's just a different from my own personal experience. And obviously that's the only experience I can speak from. The spiritual traditions from the east are a lot more focused on personal practice and developing a personal spiritual practice in your everyday life versus, well, what I saw growing up as a pastor's kid, growing up in the Christian tradition, which is essentially, people show up on Sunday and they don't think about it
1
@FryedOreo
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 4:49

@OmegaStrange

So people are turning to those aspects of spirituality for enlightenment. And it's a good thing. It doesn't all begin with Jesus for some people, but for most of the modern world it does. And diversity within our views will eventually give way to maybe to be buildings erected that were not so much about diversity, but about asserted view that pervade the land for so many decades and centuries. But thank you for your response
@FryedOreo
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 3:07

@futurenmdyogi

Thanks again for responding and getting back to me. And I thought that would be the case where just modern Eastern spirituality doesn't really need so much buildings erected to find enlightenment and the study of of that spirituality. And if anything, I find, like you were saying, a lot of yoga places are more generalized for anyone to basically it's like a sort of body improvement in wellness rather than the spiritualness connected with that to where it was founded and started
1
@Luchianna
Eluchianna Olive
@Luchianna · 4:42
But as far as the mega churches, I mean, that's been around since forever. One of the biggest mega churches in the world is the Catholic Church. But we tend to kind of like not talk about that, but we talk about the Southern Baptist or the Bible Belt churches. It's what people are looking to congregate all together. There's a lot of people that have pop up churches. You can see a church like you see a liquor store on every corner
1
@FryedOreo
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 4:49

@Luchianna

So one wasn't enough. After a while, you had people of different faiths. You had one who was of Baptists and then you have one who was Catholic and et cetera. So the different denominations probably gave rise to these varied amounts of churches in the community. And as you mentioned with the synagogues and the mosque, they haven't even had as much of a rise, or at least I don't know
@TheFitz
Cameron Fitzgerald
@TheFitz · 2:06

Reading between the lines of church closures in the United States. #religion #spirituality #christianity

Well, one of the things that I failed to go and see is the entrance of historical mega churches that thrive on providing really heavily developed programming, something that, for the first time in history, can be streamed or watched from anywhere. And this started in the postmodern era, right in the 20th century and before doctrines of communities softened. We had so many different denominations, for better or for worse
article image placeholderUploaded by @TheFitz
3
@FryedOreo
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 2:39

@TheFitz

So, yeah, I'd be curious to know what you think about, um, the direction churches are going in within the next 40 to 50 years. But thanks again for adding value to the conversation, because you most certainly did
1
@TheFitz
Cameron Fitzgerald
@TheFitz · 4:22

@FryedOreo

Now, I think it's important to look carefully at why they die, but I do not mourn the death of churches because not only there has to be some underlying issues from that underlying sickness, but it also opens up opportunity for new growth as it goes and evolves over time. Over the next kind of going on your last question, over the next 50, 60 years, there's going to be a lot of change, for better or for worse
2
@SaintMajesty95
Starlishia Brown
@SaintMajesty95 · 4:50

Hes doing a New thing

You see, you can't confide the spirit of God in the church. He is not. But you can't put him in the building. Maybe he's choosing to branch out and maybe he's the one empty thing out these churches. Yeah, think about it like that. I'm from the south. The church is always going to be going to always be a church in the south. But I hope that answered somebody's question. Anyways, you all
1
@FryedOreo
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 2:10

@SaintMajesty95

St majesty 95. Thank you for taking the time not only to listen to this swell, but to also offer an audio response. Well, thank you so much for this impassioned and spirited response to such a very sensitive subject on the matter of churches in America. And from your vantage point, you feel churches are growing, and this is good because it is in alignment with your faith and in alignment with your outlook on your God
1
@SaintMajesty95
Starlishia Brown
@SaintMajesty95 · 4:52

@FryedOreo. The attack is to make Christ the enemy make him the lesser one that man will not believe on him thus giving the enemy dominion and power

And unfortunately with this walk that we have to take, we have to become enemies to the faith and obviously that's kind of how we have to operate in this world anyway. But as a Christian, we have to become enemies to what's not of God. We have to hate the things that displease God. But it doesn't mean that we go around treating everybody with content just disrespecting everybody. It just means we can't agree to everything just because it sounds good. Right?
1
@Tim
Tim Ereneta
@Tim · 4:44

A local perspective from the business side

Hey, Dewuan, it's Tim. And I want to add another perspective, particularly on the business of church. For the past three years, I've been on the parish council for the mainline Protestant church I attend. Meaning as a nonprofit organization, we are legally required to have a board of directors elected by the members. And I just finished my three year term on that term. I was meeting monthly with the staff and the other directors to go over the finances, the attendance, staff issues
4
@FryedOreo
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 4:55

@Tim

Mr. Ereneta, thank you so much for not taking only the time to listen to this well, but to also offer an audio response. What a great perspective you brought to this discussion on churches in the American landscape. And I am reminded of a famous quote from a film that I don't even really have to say because I know you will know the film, but it was uttered from Kevin Costner. Or no, it actually technically wasn't uttered from him
@SaintMajesty95
Starlishia Brown
@SaintMajesty95 · 4:56

@Tim I have a few Questions

And the third, but if it's out of selfish ambition and out of self righteousness and not so much the Spirit of God, then really it's for nothing. And God forbid we get to Judgment Day and Jesus tells us to depart from Him because he never really knew us. I don't know. For me, I really don't go to building churches anymore because I've seen more revival on the outside of church buildings. I really have
@aspeakstoday
Auhona Dutta
@aspeakstoday · 1:42
That's an interesting point you brought up about how faith is often inherited because if your family is into a faith you are raised in that way and they ultimately get into that faith. So it's sort of a tradition. Faith becomes a sort of tradition passed on from generations. So earlier I think children would are more pliable and they mostly just obeyed what their parents had to say and just followed whatever has been happening in the family
2
@FryedOreo
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 2:31

@aspeakstoday

Obviously, we're talking about churches, so that kind of makes sense. But, yeah, I think going forward there will be much of new and old approaches to faith within matters of brick and mortar establishments, and there's a lot that goes into it from a business standpoint, as Tim and Fitz had pointed out. And there also was a couple of people that had mentioned that the church is not a physical embodiment, but more of something within. So I thought that was fascinating as well
1
@Tim
Tim Ereneta
@Tim · 3:50

@SaintMajesty95

Until five years ago, I was not even a member of this church. I was born and raised in, even a larger institution in the Roman Catholic Church, and there were plenty of reasons why I left, and that's a whole other story. But great to hear from you, and I hope you have have a blessed week. Bye
1
@Phil
phil spade
@Phil · 2:39

@Tim

And I think that's definitely contributing to closing the doors. But I did want to share just that perspective from the Finance committee here and just kind of that struggle you have of just how much do we share, how much do we really implore people to give more without seeming that we are about to shut the doors?
2
Swell user mugshot
0:000:00