So you think the Evangelical Church is dead…?

I’ve heard so much lately about the Evangelical Church, that takes a stance on moral issues, being dead in America and around the world. That people, especially young people, are being driven away. I’d like to challenge that theory right now. Here are some statistics from over the last 50 years (provided via “ken”, a friend and fellow commentator from Charisma News):

One of the “urban legends” afoot is that conservative churches are “driving people away” by taking a stand on moral issues. The numbers prove the opposite. The liberal churches that have embraced the gay agenda have seen their numbers decline for 50 years.

Check these stats on the decline of liberal (i.e., “gay-friendly”) denominations, and the growth of conservative denominations, contrasting membership figures for 1960 and 2010. This data is from the Association of Religion Data Archives
http://www.arda.com

Assemblies of God (very conservative)
1960: 508,000
2010: 2,914,000

Southern Baptists
1960: 9,731,000
2010: 16,160,000

United Pentecostal (very conservative)
1960: 175,000
2010: 646,000

Church of God (ultra conservative)
1960: 170,000
2010: 1,076,000

Mormon (not orthodox in theology, obviously, but conservative on social issues:
1960: 1,486,000
2010: 6,058,000

By contrast:

United Church of Christ (very liberal)
1960: 2,056,000
2010: 1,080,000
Roughly half its members in 50 years.

Episcopal (very liberal)
1960: 3,269,000

2010: 2,006,000

Disciples of Christ (liberal)
1960: 1,900,000
2010: 658,000

United Methodist (mostly liberal)
1960: 11,026,000
2010: 7.774,000

Also, each of the liberal churches has spawned conservative splinter denominations, which grow rapidly while the parent church declines, such as the Episcopal church (losing, big-time) and the splinter Anglican Church of North America (growing by leaps and bounds).

Funny how things come about….Despite all the negative publicity, the churches that embrace the truth of the Gospel grow, while all the churches that embrace the populist opinion of the times and the so-called “Gospel” of love and inclusion shrink, despite overwhelming political, legal, and social pressures that come about in an effort to shut them up.