Comments on: Reports of the Demise of Mainline Churches Have Been Greatly Exaggerated http://onthebema.com/2009/12/07/reports-mainline-churches/ Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:38:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Alan Rudnick http://onthebema.com/2009/12/07/reports-mainline-churches/#comment-276 Alan Rudnick Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:16:29 +0000 http://onthebema.com/?p=1158#comment-276 Yes, the long term decline is there. My post is about the stability of the last 10 years. In my town the mainline churches are filled with normal hardworking people who love Christ. In the Northeast, specifically in the North Country, economics don't play as much of a role, but we are not a bunch of elitists. With in every denomination there are liberal and conservative churches. I would be careful painting us with a board brush. Yes, the long term decline is there. My post is about the stability of the last 10 years. In my town the mainline churches are filled with normal hardworking people who love Christ. In the Northeast, specifically in the North Country, economics don’t play as much of a role, but we are not a bunch of elitists. With in every denomination there are liberal and conservative churches. I would be careful painting us with a board brush.

]]> By: R. Scott Clark http://onthebema.com/2009/12/07/reports-mainline-churches/#comment-274 R. Scott Clark Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:49:17 +0000 http://onthebema.com/?p=1158#comment-274 Pastor, The documentation of the decline of the mainline is well established. Mainliners themselves have been writing about since the 70s. Yes, there are active mainline churches but is the faith in mainline churches? In my hometown one could hardly miss all the mainline churches, some of them influential, prestigious tall-steeple congregations but it was nigh unto impossible to hear the law or the gospel in those places. I tried. Why? Because the mainline anticipated contemporary evangelicalism by becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of the culture. Mainliners are owned by the cultural elite, to a large degree, and evangelicals by the suburbs but it's the same phenomenon. Machen diagnosed the mainline in 1923, in Christianity and Liberalism, and it seems that the mainline is willing to listen to any and every remedy (especially activism, which is another facet of the cultural captivity of the church) except his. Pastor,

The documentation of the decline of the mainline is well established. Mainliners themselves have been writing about since the 70s. Yes, there are active mainline churches but is the faith in mainline churches? In my hometown one could hardly miss all the mainline churches, some of them influential, prestigious tall-steeple congregations but it was nigh unto impossible to hear the law or the gospel in those places. I tried. Why? Because the mainline anticipated contemporary evangelicalism by becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of the culture. Mainliners are owned by the cultural elite, to a large degree, and evangelicals by the suburbs but it’s the same phenomenon.

Machen diagnosed the mainline in 1923, in Christianity and Liberalism, and it seems that the mainline is willing to listen to any and every remedy (especially activism, which is another facet of the cultural captivity of the church) except his.

]]> By: Tripp http://onthebema.com/2009/12/07/reports-mainline-churches/#comment-261 Tripp Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:41:49 +0000 http://onthebema.com/?p=1158#comment-261 Your take is more...optimistic than mine is. We have fared better than many anticipated. That is true. But we ain't done yet. Please pitch in on the comments. http://www.anglobaptist.org/blog/archives/2009/12/reflecting_on_b_1.html Your take is more…optimistic than mine is. We have fared better than many anticipated. That is true. But we ain’t done yet. Please pitch in on the comments.

http://www.anglobaptist.org/blog/archives/2009/12/reflecting_on_b_1.html

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