The 2023 Church of the Nazarene USA/Canada worship attendance statistics have been posted and as expected the numbers are not good. You can read all the stats here. All seven regions in the USA experienced decline. Of the 73 districts in the USA only nine experienced growth. Four of the five districts in Canada experienced modest gains (Canada Pacific District reported the same numbers as last year). The total decline for the USA church was 22,220. Maybe more telling of the dire circumstance is that there were only 23 new churches started in the entire USA. Only the South Central Region (SNU) had more churches at the end of the year than the beginning, These numbers are troubling. They are the current reality for the USA church..
How did we get here? The three most quoted theories:
- A shifting cultural landscape. The USA is a different place than it was in 1964 (as Dr. Busic’s recent sermon has reminded us). It’s true. A lack of confidence in the church and traditional understanding of scripture regarding issues like LBGTQ+ issues are changing. But this doesn’t explain why other churches (See: Assembly of God) have not experienced the steep decline that the Church of the Nazarene has endured (see AG stats here). Others seemly have navigated the shifting culture waters without watering down their message.
- The over politicization of the church has turned off many people. Too often the church has hitched it’s wagon to political parties. In a country, nearly evenly divided politically, any church identifying closely with one party is going to put off the other half of the populace. Only the Mormon church voted more Republican than the Church of the Nazarene in the 2020 election. But politics alone can’t account for the steep decline.
- John Maxwell famously stated that “everything rises and falls on leadership.” Is our problem with our leaders? At the general level? The district level? As in all levels of management, some individuals are more competent than others, but to state that the church’s problems are based totally on leadership seems to be an easy cop-out-like answer. Our general church leaders are more than capable. No doubt, there are district superintendents that would be better suited in other roles, but not all of them. In fact, some DS’s that by my evaluation (probably skewed) are the most capable have also experienced the biggest declines. Maybe Maxwell was wrong.
The answer to the free-falling USA attendance, especially the dramatic post pandemic decline, lies in looking deeper into the mirror. The Church of the Nazarene’s stated mission is to “make Christ-like disciples in the nations.” That’s the goal, but we haven’t done it. We haven’t made Christ-like disciples. Or more personally stated, you and I haven’t made enough Christ-like disciples. Can you name a person you helped to make into a Christ-like disciple?
Would the attendance decline be lessened if we had made more and better disciples? It makes sense that it would. Christ-like disciples attend worship when able. Christ-like disciples serve. Christ-like disciples invite their friends to also participate in worship and service. Christ-like disciples are generous. Christ-like disciples are the backbone of the church. Christ-like disciples weather a shifting culture, political biases, leadership issues, pandemics and everything else.
The Church of the Nazarene’s failure to make Christ-like disciples on a consistent basis for the last decade or two has resulted in our attendance slide. We need to get back to not simply making declarative statements about Christ-like disciple making but actually make Christ-like disciples.
Dr. Jerry Porter was right. He preached a sermon I heard so many times, I could have preached it. He asked two simple questions relevant to our demise: Who is discipling you? Who are you discipling? The USA Church of the Nazarene attendance decline is NOT the result of culture, politics or leadership, it’s something much more personal. We (you and I) have not been making Christ-like disciples. The Solution to our demise is simple: Let’s personally live into our mission statement. You and I making Christ-like disciples.