Fox News – Is the sun setting on the church in America? Some people say that Christianity is declining, but the numbers are encouraging others. Some say only nominal Christians are fading away and this is increasing the more serious, robust faith among believers. Several church experts are saying: What’s going away is a nominalism, but the percentage of people who are devout Christians isn’t shifting, which means there is still so much opportunity for the mission force to continue engaging the mission field.

That is not a surprise because everyone that stands up for conservative causes grabs a liberal amount of criticism. Get the pun? So, is the church fading away or becoming stronger? There is a measure of truth in all views. Others are highlighting statistics of decline in attendance and financial support.

As recently as 30 years ago, 67 percent of Americans attended and supported a local church. The most recent (2013) poll by the Pew Research Center reported that just 37 percent of Americans attended church weekly (Gallup’s estimate came in at 39 percent in 2013). This reduction in attendance stayed on the trend with declining attendance reported at religious services from 2007 to 2014. READ MORE