The Decline of the Western Church

by Ryan Nichols

West Salem Christian Church

In the November 2003 edition of The Atlantic Monthly, there is an article about the ordination of Gene Robinson, an openly gay man living with his partner, as a bishop of the Episcopal Church in America, which is a part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. While the Episcopal churches in America and the Anglican churches in Great Britain voted to support the ordination, most other Anglican communities around the world oppose it, especially the African and Latin American churches. These churches have vehemently denounced Robinson’s ordination as directly contradictory to the clear teaching of the Bible, and have issued proposals to the Anglican Church to exclude the Episcopal Church in America from the worldwide Anglican communion.

This issue brings to light a remarkable change in the state of God’s Church in the world. As we become more and more connected to world events through television, Internet, and satellites, we recognize that we are increasingly a global Church as well. With that recognition comes a realization that the center of the Christian world is no longer in Western Europe and North America, but to the South and East. We learn of the amazing growth of native churches in Africa, where there are now more practicing Christians than in America. We learn of hundreds of people coming to Christ in Brazil every week, and of the explosive growth of Christianity in China and South Korea.

This shift in the center of Christianity from the West to the South and East is even more shocking when we consider the state of the Church in Western Europe and North America. According to statistics, only 4% of Britain’s population attends church regularly. The Church in Western Europe is also at an all-time low. Canada and the United States also report decline among the mainline churches, although there is continual growth and vitality among the evangelical and non-denominational churches. Here in Oregon – currently the least churched state in the country, and in Polk county – the least churched county in Oregon, the stark reality comes home. We are now the mission field!

How has this happened? One hundred years ago, it was Britain and America that were sending missionaries all over the world to spread the Gospel. Now, one hundred years later, those same countries we sent missionaries to are sending missionaries to us! Countries such as South Korea, Brazil, Kenya, and Nigeria are now sending missionaries to America to evangelize. How has so much changed in such a relatively short amount of time? Has the Church in the West lost its passion? Are we in danger of having our lamp removed from the throne room of God as the Ephesian church is warned about in Revelation 2:4-5? Has the Western Church wandered from the path of the New Testament and the apostles? Have we somehow become what non-Christians often portray the Church as – an irrelevant relic of the medieval past?

Where do you fit into all of this?