Many KY Churches Shrink Though Some Enjoy Surges

There are more of us, but not in church.

That’s the gist of a once-a-decade report on religious denominations that found membership is falling across the nation, despite overall population growth.

The largest decliners include the Roman Catholic Church and many historic Protestant denominations, ranging from conservative to liberal.

But the biggest gainer in overall numbers in the U.S. Religion Census were those unclaimed by any religious groups — 18 million nationally, and up by double-digit percentages in the Lousville area and Kentucky — even though researchers made unprecedented inroads into gathering numbers from previously uncounted groups.Some religious groups did post dramatic gains over the past decade — including the independent Christian movement paced by Louisville’s Southeast Christian Church, as well as Mormons, Muslims and some Pentecostals.

And while the census showed a flourishing of nondenominational churches — at 12 million strong, a movement larger than all but two denominations — there are no figures from earlier decades to show whether this trend is growing or shrinking.

Louisville Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz said he hadn’t seen the results of the survey but said the numbers show the urgency of finding new ways to present the gospel to “people who have already heard it once and are lukewarm.”

The census was conducted by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, using a fleet of researchers across religious traditions. It was released Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Associated Church Press in Chicago.

Among the scores of groups whose numbers could be compared between 2000 and 2010, the overall trend was down — in the Louisville area, Kentucky, Indiana and the nation.

Religious denominations reported a 1 percent membership loss in Kentucky and a 5 percent decline in Indiana over a decade — losing ground even as each state’s population rose 7 percent.

In the Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area — covering Jefferson County and 12 surrounding counties in Kentucky and Southern Indiana — total religious adherents shrank 4 percent while the population grew 11 percent.

Nationally, religious adherents decreased 2 percent while the population rose 10 percent.

There are several asterisks to the report. The Catholic decline partly reflects a more rigorous method that screens out some people who identify themselves as Catholic but who largely don’t participate in church life, for example. And some historically African-American denominations proved difficult to measure.

On the other hand, even though the report lists Southern Baptists as growing in adherents over the past decade, the denomination has sounded alarms over the stagnation of conversions in recent years, and membership also has ebbed.

“It is difficult to make straight comparisons between the numbers” said Dale E. Jones, director of research services for the Church of the Nazarene and one of the coordinators of the survey. But where they can be compared from decade to decade, the “adherent counts are down.”

Paul Chitwood, executive director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, the state affiliate of Southern Baptists, said he’s observed the long-range trend toward more people lacking any church ties.

“It’s a reminder to Southern Baptists of how important our evangelism and outreach are,” said Chitwood, citing such efforts as disaster relief, door-to-door evangelism, nontraditional church events oriented toward groups such as outdoorsmen and the launch of new congregations.

“Newly planted churches are typically more effective at reaching the unchurched than established churches,” Chitwood said.

The Religion Census includes data on houses of worship in 236 religious traditions down to the county level. It’s the sixth such survey since the 1950s.

Overall, just under half of Americans were claimed as adherents by religious groups.

And while this survey represents top-down measurements — estimating adherents based on the numbers claimed by religious denominations and congregations — it mirrors some trends reported by bottom-up surveys asking individuals what religion they have, if any.

One-third of adults under 30 reported having no religion in 2011 in a newly released major survey — up from a quarter just five years earlier, according to researchers Robert Putnam and David Campbell, authors of a revised 2012 edition of “American Grace,” a wide-ranging book about contemporary religion.

The scholars said many young adults are reacting against the fusion of religion, Republican politics and anti-gay activism.

The Public Religion Research Institute found a smaller ratio of adults under 25 to have no religion — one-quarter — but most of them had grown up in a religion before rejecting it.

Edwin Hensley, an organizer for the group Louisville Atheists and Freethinkers, applauded the secular trends but said politics had less to do with it than basic questioning.

A blend of religion and politics might cause people “to challenge their beliefs whereas otherwise they might not have thought to challenge them,” said Hensley, whose group meets regularly for discussions and to hear speakers.

In the Louisville area, the census found double-digit percentage declines among Roman Catholics, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and two Lutheran denominations. The Assemblies of God declined locally but grew nationally.

Mormons and Muslims posted large gains locally.

The Christian Churches and Churches of Christ — which includes one of the largest churches in the nation, Southeast Christian, and several other large congregations — rose 164 percent in the metropolitan region and 29 percent throughout Kentucky, the survey said.

Southeast senior pastor Dave Stone said growing churches need to integrate younger people into their services and be ready to adapt frequently.

“I do think there is a spiritual awakening that is taking place in the Louisville area,” he said. “I think it can be traced back to one thing, and that is prayer.”

Kurtz said he takes heart in the enrollment of thousands of people in area “Why Catholic?” classes at local parishes, including an upcoming series on prayer.

Louisville Area Bishop Lindsey Davis of the United Methodist Church said his denomination is turning the corner locally. The denomination is the third-largest in Kentucky but declined 9 percent in the state and 4 percent nationally in the past decade.

However, the Kentucky Annual Conference, which covers most of the state, actually grew last year by about 1,000 people, he said.

“The increase is a direct result of our planting of 12 new congregations since 2008,” he said. “And I believe that planting new churches is the key to making new disciples of Jesus in these years to come.”

 Article: https://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012305010095