What a big difference a region makes.
Or use to make.
I served as pastor of four churches, and three of them were in the Bible Belt. One was not. It was my favorite.
The Bible Belt refers to that region of the southeastern and south-central United States where church attendance has been higher historically, and where biblical values are more closely aligned with cultural values.
But the buckle of the Bible Belt is coming off. That means the entire belt will soon fall off. And it is happening rapidly.
There are thousands of churches in the Bible Belt. Sadly, too many of them are not adjusting to the changing realities of the area. They still act like it’s 1975. Here’s why:
- They don’t recognize the decline in cultural Christianity. They refuse to admit the world has changed around them. And they are often angered when someone suggests they make methodological and stylistic changes.
- They have many “church rules.” The church rules could be related to attire worn on Sunday, or times of worship, or inconsequential polity issues. The point is they do things like they did 40 years ago, and wonder why those on the outside are not interested in their churches.
- They have leaders who have never led in a highly unchurched mission field. Of course, the problem is that the mission field around them is growing increasingly unchurched. Birmingham and Nashville, in that regard, are looking more like Spokane and Boston.
- They confuse traditions with truth. That is a dangerous reality. When our church members equate biblical teachings with some of the bylaws and processes of the church, the congregation is in big trouble.
- They do outreach the way they’ve always done it. So if Tuesday night visitation was effective in 1975, it should be effective in 2016.
- They have significant conflict due to frustration. A number of the leaders and members of these churches can’t understand why and how things have changed so much. They want their old church back, but it’s not coming back. Their frustration can lead to conflict that exacerbates their other problems.
- They are very slow to respond. Their internal culture moves at a much slower pace than the community around them. If they do respond to an opportunity, they might be five years late. Or ten. Or twenty.
- They have significant facility challenges. Many of these churches were built for one big crowd one day a week one hour a week. They might have old and dated education and recreation facilities as well. Some of them are in worship centers with a capacity multiple times their actual attendance. They can have significant unused space and deferred maintenance. A lot of their funds go to keep the lights on.
Many of you readers are in churches in the Bible Belt. I would love to hear your perspectives. Of course, I am always happy to hear from any of you who take time to read this blog.
Posted on October 31, 2016
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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199 Comments
These eight reasons are not the problem. You are addressing symptoms rather than the substance of the problem. “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” (2 Timothy 4:2, NASB95)
The issue is that the pastors are no longer interested in a regenerate congregation which grows in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Some long for the past. Others are more interested in nickels and noses rather than true followers of Christ. The church has failed to make disciples because the pastors have failed to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. So, the goats are fat while the sheep are starving. The solution is to preach the Word, make disciples, and see Christ build His church shaped in His image.
Having served one church in the South, I agree with all 8 of these comments. And I would add 1, Thom.
Southerners do not like the people moving into their communities because they are “not like them.” It is very hard to reach people you don’t like!
My sweetest times in ministry where in the most secular regions of the US.
Does “having served ONE church in the South” qualify you to label all southerners?
Gary, I’m afraid I have to agree with Craig. Do you also believe all Jews are stingy? Do you believe all Irish people are drunks? Do you believe all African-Americans are lazy and stupid? Your comments about southerners are no less stereotypical.
I disagree, my brothers. Be slow to accuse of racism when you don’t know someone. The community I was a part of of filled with transplant from the NE. It seemed to be lost to the long-churched folks that there was an opportunity there. They seemed more interested in perpetuating their view of church and politics than a real love to see people come to Jesus.
BTW, I experienced the same thing once in the North. One dear elder would always ask of new members, “Are they our kind of people?” What did that mean? To him, it meant, “Do they come to Sunday Evening worship.”
My apologies if my brief response seemed prejudicial. By the same token, please extend me the same courtesy. I love Gospel above culture and call it out where ever I see it — N, S, E or W.
Blessings…
“Be slow to accuse of racism when you don’t know someone.”
You would do well to heed that advice yourself, sir. For the record, I do not believe you are a racist. I asked these questions to make a point. You made a very generalized and unfair comment about southerners, and that ‘s why I asked you if you embrace other stereotypes as well.
“My apologies if my brief response seemed prejudicial.”
There’s no “if” to it. Your comments were very prejudicial. For your information, the South is currently one of the racially diverse areas of the country, and next to the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention is the most racially diverse denomination in the country. You obviously don’t like it when people make unfair statements about you, so maybe you should be a little less sanctimonious in what you say about southerners.
I grew up in GA. Some have referred to our state as the buckle of the Bible Belt. After pastoring two churches in this region for 30 years, I have said for a good wile now that we no longer have a Bible Belt. We have a CHURCH belt, but no real Bible Belt. I thought I would write a book entitled The Unbuckling of the Bible Belt that outlines the decline of Christianity in the Bible Belt. I’m sure the conclusion would indicate the church to be at fault. Maybe someone can pick that up and run with it. We are now missionaries on Eleuthera.
You don’t have to be in that region to have these characteristics, you can be in Atlantic Canada! Good article. Thanks for sharing.
This does not apply to every church, of course. There are some great mega churches that are doing some great things.
My husband and I have lived in the Bible Belt all our lives except for 8 years that we lived in Utah. We love being back in the Bible Belt where Christianity is the norm. However, people are people no matter what and are in constant need to be stimulated. If we build our churches with simular stimulation that the world offers then we will have to continue to up it to keep the people.
I believe people are the same today as they were 2,000 years ago. We have the need to be spiritually stimulated. I’d rather worship with 200 people madly in-love with Jesus, with an insatiable taste for His Word and a heart-felt desire to see people delivered from darkness – both in this life and eternity than be numbered among 2,000 people that focuses on their church looking like and adapting to the ever-changing world.
Adjust? Yes…….absolutely. But we have to keep the main thing – the main thing. Billy Graham never wavered from presenting the pure gospel and thousands would attend his meetings.
Our stubbornness to never changing anything (because we’ve always done it this way) verses the same amount of stubbornness to make changes for the sake of changes, creates a lose/lose environment.
It’s when Christ is lifted up that people are drawn to Him. Among all the reasons listed for why people are leaving churchest I would include:
We may have allowed building an impressive church push out building the Kingdom of God. Quantity has been the unintentional and misguided motivation. Quality seems to be Jesus’ intentional and guided motivation when He said to Peter ‘And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ Do we find ways to make what we want seem all about God? Quote from Beth Moore, “He not only sees and knows our hearts, but He also looks straight into the hearts of our desires.” Maybe we lose God’s vision of what He desires for and from us. Maybe people leave because they brought their appetite for more of God to the church but left hungry. When Jesus fed the multitudes He couldn’t go anywhere without a great crowd following Him. We need more of the Bread of Life and less of everything else.
This is spot on. I experienced this in the last church I pastored. The elders didn’t understand what was going on, and they were answering questions no one was asking. They thought building a new, $2.5 million building would bring people in. It didn’t. Eventually, I was blamed, and they fired me. But the church continues to decline, 4 years after I was dismissed. It’s sad. And it’s happening everywhere…..
i have a hard time getting past the 2nd sentence, please change it to ‘used to’.
I think that one major problem that we have in churches all around the country is that we are not intentionally investing in the younger generations and helping them become leaders in the church NOW. We put them over in their own ministries to grow up in and then we just expect the teenagers to move over to “adult church” when they graduate from high school. The problem is that we have never really connected them to the church as a whole and so when they can no longer be a part of the “youth ministry” because they have reached a magical age, they just walk away. We have created a system that is leading to the decline of the church in this country and it is time to fix it. It is time to get everyone involved in leading the church and give leadership responsibility to the younger generations so they will be invested in moving the church forward. Many churches in rural America have no teenagers in them on Sunday so how do they think they are going to survive into the future. It is time to wake up and get the younger generations integrated and involved NOW instead of just hoping that they will show up some day when they want to worship like everyone else in the church. It’s time for those of us who are supposedly adults to quit acting like children and help the younger generations become active disciples in the church so that they can help move the mission forward into the future.
Thom,
Thank you for your article. I can see in reading the comments that there are a number of issues. It is not a simple problem. But the greatest need that I see is that no matter the style of worship or leadership or the size or age of your facilities – we need a fresh work of God in the hearts of His people. We need revival. Yes I know revitalization is the buzz word now. But we need God to breathe life into tired and struggling believers. We need the Gospel to be clearly proclaimed and given to the lost (within and without the church). I think people are searching for authentic expressions of Christianity. The form doesn’t matter so much as it being genuine. God has a great prescription for this happening today: “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14
Wow. This seems a bit of a broad brush slam…but maybe I’m seeing it wrong.
I’m in a Bible Belt church that once was a “mega” church when there were no mega churches. When I came on board 11 years ago as a Senior Pastor the church had declined alarmingly quickly. The people were concerned and morale was low with the end of the church in mind.
One of my statements to them was that “sometimes desperate is not a bad place to be.” We have made significant changes, and took about 7 years for everyone to leave who was going to. The growth now is about 60% to 40% non-white families joining. This may be a lifelong ministry for me.
The key in your article is SOME Bible Belt churches. There really are quite a few that God is using in dynamic ways.
I was raised in Southern California, but now live in Arkansas. The cultural difference between the 2 is nothing short of staggering. Your observation seem to me to be on point. I am a pastor of a small church that is experiencing some of the issues you talked about. They are very sweet, loving people that want to fallow God, but at times struggle to give up things that no longer work for things that would work better. Sunday night service is an example of that for us. If they could just give it up and start some small group studies instead, I believe the time would be much more profitable for them and they might even attract some new people. But instead I preach to the same 12 to 15 people in a room that sears 100. I love those people so much, but change seems to come so slowly!
Hey Thom, I live in the Bible Belt. I am also an evangelist. I try to help churches to do outreach in their communities to touch and gather for community involvement and church growth. I agree with the comment on Tuesday night visitation. How do you suggest churches do outreach with visitation concepts in a new American Religious culture?
Johnny,
I would like to hear the answer to your question..
“I agree with the comment on Tuesday night visitation. How do you suggest churches do outreach with visitation concepts in a new American Religious culture?”
My church has just completed the G.R.O.W. out-reach training by Jerry Tidwell. He makes a statement something like this (not a direct quote):
Many say Tuesday night visitation doesn’t work anymore, but if you will use the GROW method like it is taught , Tuesday nights visitation still works.