Is the church nearly dead? Dr. Denison reviews ‘The Myth of the Dying Church’

Every day brings more evidence that the church in America and the Western world is on a path to imminent demise: 

• Millennials are leaving by the droves. 
• The number of Americans with no religious commitment is skyrocketing. 
• Churches are dying all around us. 
• The future of America looks far more secular than spiritual. 

Every statement I just made is false. 

Glenn Stanton is director of Global Family Formation Studies at Focus on the Family. He served the George W. Bush administration for many years as a consultant on increasing fatherhood involvement. He is the author of nine books and one of the most insightful commentators on American culture today. 

In his new book, The Myth of the Dying Church: How Christianity Is Actually Thriving in America and the World, Stanton explores the best sociological research available today on the subject of religious commitment in America and beyond. What he discovers runs directly counter to the cultural narrative that insists that Christianity is in steep decline. 

To the contrary, he finds remarkable good news for the gospel in our day. And he offers very practical advice for parents who want to help the next generation stay faithful to Christ. 

Here are Stanton’s conclusions: 

• Church attendance is at an all-time high, both in raw numbers and as a percentage of the population.
• “The percentage of young adults regularly attending evangelical and nondenominational churches has roughly doubled between 1972 and today.”
• The “Nones” (those who say they have no religious affiliation) are not new unbelievers but people who were never committed to the faith and now feel free to tell pollsters so.
• “The number of Christians in the world today is larger than it has ever been in the history of the world.”

Why religion matters 

In the foreword, Baylor scholar Byron Johnson states: “There is indeed a dramatic decline among some American churches, but this severe decline can be found in a distinct…