Topic: What, in your opinion, is the future of Protestantism?

[jesusisthekey]

I just don't see how Protestantism will remain the way it is with the growing secularized west. To be fair, I am big into eschatology, and this might make my view biased. But I just cannot see it being the same, I personally think many small, but still somewhat big, denominations will merge with bigger denominations.

Also I am in the younger Christian range (16-20) I see many Christians, who are my age or around my age, forsake Christianity after being in these big non-denominational (I consider that a denomination  ) churches.

[Arachne]

I voted for people joining the RCC or EOC, but that's largely wishful thinking on my part. Protestantism offers a large umbrella for a lot of the 'spiritual but not religious' crew.

Also, why no option of people joining other religions? I can see more disappointed westerners drifting towards Islam, Buddhism or Neopaganism. Better than atheist nations, but still not good enough.

[jesusisthekey]

I voted for people joining the RCC or EOC, but that's largely wishful thinking on my part. Protestantism offers a large umbrella for a lot of the 'spiritual but not religious' crew.

Also, why no option of people joining other religions? I can see more disappointed westerners drifting towards Islam, Buddhism or Neopaganism. Better than atheist nations, but still not good enough.

I am sorry, I forget to add that as a option

[Asteriktos]

Where's the option to vote for "larger"? I think mainstream Protestant groups will continue to decline, while niche Protestant groups (non-denominational, hipster, etc.) will continue to grow, with there being both a net increase in the number of groups and also the number of Protestants. I also think Anglicanism will stabilize, but then that doesn't have anything to do with Protestantism.

[dzheremi]

What future?

[mike]

I voted for people joining the RCC or EOC, but that's largely wishful thinking on my part. Protestantism offers a large umbrella for a lot of the 'spiritual but not religious' crew.

Also, why no option of people joining other religions? I can see more disappointed westerners drifting towards Islam, Buddhism or Neopaganism. Better than atheist nations, but still not good enough.

I am sorry, I forget to add that as a option

You also forgot "do not care".

[Severian]

Do you guys think there will ever be a time where Protestantism becomes a relatively small minority religion (like Zoroastrianism, for example)?

[dzheremi]

It already is, in a lot of places.

[Severian]

It already is, in a lot of places.

I mean worldwide.

[orthonorm]

I voted for people joining the RCC or EOC, but that's largely wishful thinking on my part. Protestantism offers a large umbrella for a lot of the 'spiritual but not religious' crew.

Also, why no option of people joining other religions? I can see more disappointed westerners drifting towards Islam, Buddhism or Neopaganism. Better than atheist nations, but still not good enough.

No one is becoming Buddhist nor "neopagan" (except maybe lesbians and white supremacists of a certain age) nor are many going Muslim the media hysteria aside.

Pop-pyscho-newage. For example: See Oprah.

[Asteriktos]

Do you guys think there will ever be a time where Protestantism becomes a relatively small minority religion (like Zoroastrianism, for example)?

I don't think so, as they've got their message out and aren't largely isolated to one culture anymore. While America and N. Europe are still their bread and butter, they have made enough progress in Latin/South America, Africa, etc. to keep things going.

[Severian]

Do you guys think there will ever be a time where Protestantism becomes a relatively small minority religion (like Zoroastrianism, for example)?

I don't think so, as they've got their message out and aren't largely isolated to one culture anymore. While America and N. Europe are still their bread and butter, they have made enough progress in Latin/South America, Africa, etc. to keep things going.

Shame.

[JamesR]

My thoughts are that as most educated people are leaving Protestantism in the West, the Protestants who remain will probably become more merged together into a single denomination, less formality and emphasis on doctrine, more "non-denominationals" each holding their own individual beliefs very loosely united.

[JamesR]

Do you guys think there will ever be a time where Protestantism becomes a relatively small minority religion (like Zoroastrianism, for example)?

Perhaps in the West, since Protestantism seems to be highly in conflict with the direction that western society is going it. However, it is growing in Africa and impoverished parts of the world.

[Jetavan]

Do you guys think there will ever be a time where Protestantism becomes a relatively small minority religion (like Zoroastrianism, for example)?

Nope.

[choy]

I just don't see how Protestantism will remain the way it is with the growing secularized west. To be fair, I am big into eschatology, and this might make my view biased. But I just cannot see it being the same, I personally think many small, but still somewhat big, denominations will merge with bigger denominations.

Also I am in the younger Christian range (16-20) I see many Christians, who are my age or around my age, forsake Christianity after being in these big non-denominational (I consider that a denomination  ) churches.

They will continue evolving as a mish-mash of heterodoxy integrating more an more of paganism and whatever heterodoxy is popular at that time.  Today its New Age, who knows what it will be 50 years from now when the Prosperity Gospel gives way to something else.

[dzheremi]

I voted for people joining the RCC or EOC, but that's largely wishful thinking on my part. Protestantism offers a large umbrella for a lot of the 'spiritual but not religious' crew.

Also, why no option of people joining other religions? I can see more disappointed westerners drifting towards Islam, Buddhism or Neopaganism. Better than atheist nations, but still not good enough.

No one is becoming Buddhist nor "neopagan" (except maybe lesbians and white supremacists of a certain age) nor are many going Muslim the media hysteria aside.

Pop-pyscho-newage. For example: See Oprah.

What is the deal with lesbians and neo-paganism, anyway? I've noticed this for a few years now (with an increasingly wide age range...when I was in high school or thereabouts it seemed to be mostly "gothic" teenage girls who were into this nonsense, but lately I've seen more and more articles on High Priestess So-and-So, 56-year-old lesbian bookstore owner or whatever; is it that the Episcopalians are too festive in their color scheme?), but I can't for the life of me figure out the connection. It's one of those odd mysteries of the world...like why Latinas in their teens and 20s love Morissey so much, or how all my teenage metalhead friends were so shocked that Rob Halford is gay.

Severian: Have you read anything on the so called "emergent" movement within Protestantism? I don't know a lot about it myself, only what I've heard in Orthodox lectures on the subject, but it seems from the way it is presented there that this is the "cutting edge" of Protestantism, and so likely to be a force of shaping its future (because to the extent that Protestants are still around, this is where the young people are). It's highly syncretic, kind of a hodge-podge of whatever it is that whoever is presiding over the meeting (?) wants it to be that week, sometimes even including Orthodox symbols or items, in addition to light shows, spooky new age music, etc. It seems totally wacky to me, but I dunno...it has its own Wikipedia page, which is surely the sign of authenticity in today's world.

[Nephi]

Protestants seem to be doing pretty well in Asia. Charismatics in particular, I think.

[choy]

Protestants seem to be doing pretty well in Asia. Charismatics in particular, I think.

That won't last.  At some point people will figure out that Jesus isn't really interested in you getting your promotion or growing your bank account or fulfilling your potential (and to be clear I am not talking about Theosis here).

[Asteriktos]

Protestants seem to be doing pretty well in Asia. Charismatics in particular, I think.

or fulfilling your potential (and to be clear I am not talking about Theosis here).

...reminded me of this book by an Orthodox priest

[choy]

Protestants seem to be doing pretty well in Asia. Charismatics in particular, I think.

or fulfilling your potential (and to be clear I am not talking about Theosis here).

...reminded me of this book by an Orthodox priest

THAT IS THE SWEETEST TITLE TO A BOOK!!!!!  How many Evangelicals would read that?  Bravo Father Anthony, BRAVO!

[Arachne]

I voted for people joining the RCC or EOC, but that's largely wishful thinking on my part. Protestantism offers a large umbrella for a lot of the 'spiritual but not religious' crew.

Also, why no option of people joining other religions? I can see more disappointed westerners drifting towards Islam, Buddhism or Neopaganism. Better than atheist nations, but still not good enough.

No one is becoming Buddhist nor "neopagan" (except maybe lesbians and white supremacists of a certain age) nor are many going Muslim the media hysteria aside.

Pop-pyscho-newage. For example: See Oprah.

Your sources are, predictably, different from mine.

[Jetavan]

Schaeffer has some interesting things to say about Protestantism both liberal and conservative:

"When progressive Christians, whatever they call themselves, return to the Eucharistic path, the traditional calendar of the Christian year, a sense that a church is not a temple of what’s-happening-now with all the latest attachments but something that was passed down to them, they’ll then be able to pick up where their Puritan forebears went wrong."

I don't think this means that Protestantism will die anytime soon, though.

[Iconodule]

I voted for people joining the RCC or EOC, but that's largely wishful thinking on my part. Protestantism offers a large umbrella for a lot of the 'spiritual but not religious' crew.

Also, why no option of people joining other religions? I can see more disappointed westerners drifting towards Islam, Buddhism or Neopaganism. Better than atheist nations, but still not good enough.

No one is becoming Buddhist nor "neopagan" (except maybe lesbians and white supremacists of a certain age) nor are many going Muslim the media hysteria aside.

Pop-pyscho-newage. For example: See Oprah.

What is the deal with lesbians and neo-paganism, anyway? I've noticed this for a few years now (with an increasingly wide age range...when I was in high school or thereabouts it seemed to be mostly "gothic" teenage girls who were into this nonsense, but lately I've seen more and more articles on High Priestess So-and-So, 56-year-old lesbian bookstore owner or whatever; is it that the Episcopalians are too festive in their color scheme?), but I can't for the life of me figure out the connection.

Episcopalianism, for all its bizarre turnings, still maintains at least a nominal connection to Christianity and the Bible and all the "patriarchal" and "heterosexist" implications of that. Neopaganism, on the other hand, is a 20th century made-up religion worshiping a Mother Goddess, a religion which claims ancient roots but which really has none, allowing believers to basically shape it to mean whatever they want.

[Nicene]

I see slow decline in conservative churches (not just evangelical) and steady growth in liberal churches which will seek more and more to cater to their parishoners instead of anything meaningful. Sort of like the anglican church.

[Nero]

I chose "Denominations will merge" but I really don't know to be honest. The nondenominational movement is big right now, but it might die out - many other movements have. Protestant Christianity seems to have that "ebb and flow" idea (Pietism, Anabaptism, Puritanism, restorationism, evangelicalism, etc.) The younger generations of Christianity seem to have forsaken denominations in favor of this mainstream movement, but it remains to be seen whether traditional denominations like Lutheranism or Methodism etc. will completely die out.

[Nephi]

As far as I've seen, it seems like while certain mainline denominations are declining or dividing, independent or congregational churches may be absorbing a good deal of the disaffected.

[Knee V]

They will continue evolving as a mish-mash of heterodoxy integrating more an more of paganism and whatever heterodoxy is popular at that time.  Today its New Age, who knows what it will be 50 years from now when the Prosperity Gospel gives way to something else.

Something like this. ^

I believe that not all whom we consider to be "Protestant" are truly Protestant. What I would consider to be the trademark of Protestantism is its insistence that, although tradition and church history are useful in helping to understand what Scripture truly means, the Christian life is ultimately governed by the Scriptures as our final and ultimate authority.

However, not all whom we refer to as being Protestants believe that. I believe that a new "branch" of Christianity evolved somewhere in the late 19th/early 20th century. What I would consider to be the trademark of this new group is its insistence that, although the Bible is helpful in helping us to know that we are truly be led by the Holy Spirit, the Christian life is ultimately governed by the individual leading of the Holy Spirit, as well as any new movements of the Holy Spirit, as our final and ultimate authority.

I believe that Protestantism will remain, but will continue to shift into less formally organized group, while the "mainline" groups will continue to wane. All in all, I think that Protestantism will lose a great deal of ground as people begin to find it having less and less relevance. I think that the outward manifestations of power found in the "new group", as well as its tendency toward temporal satisfaction and empowering people to control their own world according to their own wills (compare to Voodoo) is what has allowed them to grow so much, and is what will cause them to continue to grow.

This system, I believe, is what will dominate the "Evangelical" landscape in the years to come. However, I believe that the overall number of Christians will decline, as people gravitate toward either Islam, New Age in whatever form, or self-indulgence with no thought of God or spirituality.

[David Young]

I see slow decline in conservative churches (not just evangelical) and steady growth in liberal churches

Here in Britain it is the opposite that is happening, though I think all are numerically in decline. The question as to what will happen as time moves on is unanswerable. One can derive different ideas on this from scripture. Jesus said something like, "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" the obvious implication seeming to be decline. On the other hand, Romans seems to predict a conversion of the majority of the Jews to Christ as Messiah, and that bringing "new life from the dead" towards the close of the age: sometimes called "the Puritan hope". The Spirit "blows where it listeth" as the AV expresses it.

Also, the question is ambiguous, for there are sadly many who have kept the names but ditched the religion. There are plenty of Methodists, Baptists, Congregationalists, Moravians etc whose religion would be unrecognisable to those who founded those communions. Does the question include those who practise this kind of linguistic chicanery, or is it asked about those who retain both the name and the religion?

[Nicene]

I see slow decline in conservative churches (not just evangelical) and steady growth in liberal churches

Here in Britain it is the opposite that is happening, though I think all are numerically in decline. The question as to what will happen as time moves on is unanswerable. One can derive different ideas on this from scripture. Jesus said something like, "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" the obvious implication seeming to be decline. On the other hand, Romans seems to predict a conversion of the majority of the Jews to Christ as Messiah, and that bringing "new life from the dead" towards the close of the age: sometimes called "the Puritan hope". The Spirit "blows where it listeth" as the AV expresses it.

Also, the question is ambiguous, for there are sadly many who have kept the names but ditched the religion. There are plenty of Methodists, Baptists, Congregationalists, Moravians etc whose religion would be unrecognisable to those who founded those communions. Does the question include those who practise this kind of linguistic chicanery, or is it asked about those who retain both the name and the religion?

I don't know about the future, but if I were to base things on what I see hapening here in New Zealand and Europe and even America, people are just embracing secularism and maybe a bland deism at most within that non religious, secularist, Do what I want to make myself happy sphere of existence. Popular culture is already there are people are influenced by that, and I've seen it the people i've met outside of church (not one religious in any meaningful manner). But I think the thing certain protestant churches can do (besides becoming orthodox, cough cough) is dissasociate with liberals within their own communion. Im mostly thinking of the Anglican church of which I see having no future (as a church with any sort traditional Christian belief), though I could be wrong (which I hope is the case).

[David Young]

people are just embracing secularism and maybe a bland deism at most within that non religious, secularist, Do what I want to make myself happy sphere of existence.

Yes. Very true. What we do not know is whether the Lord will revive his church before the End, or will allow people to go their own way, God finally saying to each (as C S Lewis has it), "Thy will be done." I think we should pray and act as if blessing and renewal might well come, but be willing to be a despised "little flock" if that should be the Lord's appointment for us.

Concerning whether it is right for Christians to remain in theologically decadent denominations, so many true Christians have thoughtfully been persuaded in either one or the other direction, that I for one cannot say that one is always right and the other is always wrong. I left Methodism back in the 1960s largely for that very reason, but I know devout, earnest servants of the Lord within that communion today, and if all who still loved the old Methodist gospel had left prior to the 1960s, I might never have been brought to faith at all.

[JamesR]

I see slow decline in conservative churches (not just evangelical) and steady growth in liberal churches

Here in Britain it is the opposite that is happening, though I think all are numerically in decline.

How large and steady is that decline? Judging from what I have read and watched about the UK--Britain in particular--it seems like the region is becoming VERY secular and even anti-theistic, such as religion being one of the largest taboo subjects around, some areas enacting discriminatory laws toward Christianity--such as not allowing employees to wear Crosses, and openly funding adds and banners on buses and the like which blatantly speak against God. On the other hand, the US is still extremely religious for the most part, irreligion is considered taboo and as much as I hate to admit it, I think it partially has to due with our stupidity compared to the Europe.

[David Young]

Denominational statistics are availabhle on-line, but certainly by and large your impression of Britain is correct.

[Cyrillic]

I see slow decline in conservative churches (not just evangelical) and steady growth in liberal churches

Here in Britain it is the opposite that is happening, though I think all are numerically in decline.

On this side of the Channel the conservative to very conservative churches are booming while the liberal ones are almost empty.

[Xenia]

I think there will be more mega-churches on the outskirts of town,  just like there are more Wal-Marts and Targets.
There will be fewer small churches in town,  just like there are fewer mom and pop stores in town.

The big and ugly will gobble up the small and lovely.

[Nicene]

It will gradually divide between the liberals and the consevatives.

[Daedelus1138]

However, not all whom we refer to as being Protestants believe that. I believe that a new "branch" of Christianity evolved somewhere in the late 19th/early 20th century. What I would consider to be the trademark of this new group is its insistence that, although the Bible is helpful in helping us to know that we are truly be led by the Holy Spirit, the Christian life is ultimately governed by the individual leading of the Holy Spirit, as well as any new movements of the Holy Spirit, as our final and ultimate authority.  

  You are thinking about the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement, I believe.  Actually the first people to think like this in the West were the Quakers.  They considered the Bible subordinate to the personal experience of God.  Some modern day Charismatics can be like this too, with alot of interest in peoples private spiritual experiences as sources of their own.  Honestly I find the Charismatic movement fascinating and even at times spiritually edifying (certain aspects of the Charismatic movement are not wholely foreign to Eastern Orthodoxy's ethos) even though the general evangelical extroverted ethos doesn't really sit well with me.

  In some ways the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement is a "post-Protestant" phenomenon since the Bible increasingly plays less and less role in peoples lives as a regulative function and exists more as a narrative.  The Emerging Church also is related here, with a higher Pneumatology and the Missio Dei even preceding the existence of the Church and the Bible.  But the traditional Pentecostal experience is rooted in the fundamentalist rejection of the world and an inflated view of spiritual warfare whereas the Emergent Church is based on a more radical call to engagement with the world but still having the energy and sincerity of the evangelical movement.

 I think the future will be post-Protestant, with 19th century biblicism and fundamentalism increasingly being threatend by newer Christian understandings of the role of the Bible in religious life.

  Roman Catholicism will not grow alot due to priestly scandals and its clash with the modern world and loss of credibility and moral authority.  Eastern Orthodoxy is incompherensible to most people outside its walls, has a poor missionary or evangelical sense (almost nonexistant), so I don't think it will appeal to anything more than theology wonks and liturgists who desire to delve into it.

[TheTrisagion]

I am pretty sure that at least in the US, you will have mainline Protestant denominations continue to decline.  The non-denominationals will increase in the number of churches, but not necessarily in the number of adherents.  I think many Christians, especially younger ones will bleed off to agnosticism or atheism as they continue to see contradictions (i.e. Biblical inerrancy) that most churches in Christianity don't have satisfying answers for.  I think disillusionment with the RC church will cause many to abandon that as well.  The EO Church will continue to gain converts at a very slow pace and not gain significant traction.  Overall, I see a pretty bleak future for Christianity in the US.  I think most of the non-denominational churches will continuing exploring new theories (Prayer of Jabez, anyone?) and eventually morph into a mishmash religion on it's own (if it hasn't done that already)

[Agabus]

In the near to moderate future...

Mainline churches will continue to decline but will still exist because of their endowments (see: Trinity Wall Street).

Catholics and Orthodox will also lose numbers, though it will be more obvious for Catholicism because they have more to lose.

Evangelicals will continue to defect during the college years, and as time passes fewer will return when they have children, breaking with the usual course of things for the last couple of decades. Evangelicalism will be come more homogenous, generally charismatic but not specifically, but will not merge in any sense — if anything, churches will become more independent. Denominational labels will become less important to those within the ranks, but will for practical and funding purposes continue to exist; churches will keep the trend of dropping the descriptor words from their names (Baptist, Assembly of God, etc.).

In the long term, I am a triumphalist, but I mean that only in the very, very long term.

[xariskai]

What will Prostestanism be like in 50 years?

The Same (Same Groups)
Smaller  (Many Denominations will cease to exist)
Denominations will merge with one another
Most Protestants will either joining the Roman Catholic Church or Eastern Church
I am unsure

What?

A recent study by Gordon-Conwell Seminary (Protestant) of the growth of denominations in Protestantism gives not only a current figure of 44,000 denominations(!) but also presents a snapshot of the historical trend in the last two centuries:

YEAR/ DENOMINATIONS
1800: 500
1900: 1600
1970: 18,800
2000: 34,200  
2013: 44,000
2025 (projected): 55,000 Denominations
http://www.gordonconwell.edu/resources/documents/StatusOfGlobalMission.pdf  -see line 41: Denominations

The historical trend for Protestantism reflected in this study is CLEARLY is not (as per the poll options) to remain the same, or to unify be merger. Within a couple of centuries of the Reformation you could still count the main trajectories of Protestantism on your fingers. From its historical origin to the year 1900, with 1600 then denominations, itself constitutes enormous growth, but the increase from 1600 to 44,000 in just one more century is absolutely astounding.

This growth reflects a threefold crisis within Protestantism: (1) Crisis of Legitimization; (2) Crisis if Individualization (3) Crisis of Fragmentation.

The exponential trend in Protestantism toward Fragmentation, is especially interesting in that Paul mentions the formation of factions as an act of the flesh in opposition to the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:19-20 and elsewhere:

"The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions..." -Galatians 5:19-20

Contrast the very "Orthodox" sentiment in St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians:
"I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and  that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought." -1 Cor 1:10

Can therefore the incredible factionalism we see in contemporary Protestantism be defended as the fruit of the Spirit?

I vote therefore for UNLISTED OPTION: continuation of the current trend of fragmentation/division Protestantism.
Neither can I select the last option (of "unsure"); I think continued overall splintering/fragmentation Gordon Conwell is predicting is a pretty safe bet.

[TheTrisagion]

Not a great outlook for Orthodoxy, there. 

[xariskai]

Not a great outlook for Orthodoxy, there.  

Why not? Projected growth, at least, from a current 279,547,000 to 291,492,000 Orthodox Christians in the next twelve years (line 32). Compare the study's current 439,565,000 Protestants, but splintered into the current figure 44,000 denominations.

Perhaps the continuing exponential trend toward factionalism and chaos in Protestantism reflected in this data -55,000 Protestant denominations by 2025- will make Orthodox unity even over the course of 20 centuries, and multiple nationalities, languages, and cultures, appear not only increasingly attractive, but as genuinely miraculous is it really is by comparison.

[Gunnarr]

Personally I believe all religions will be going downhill for now and the end of time, and the protestants are no exception. Speaking of actual adherents I mean. I cannot understand the arguments that is sometimes heard that religion will have a big role in the future... I just cannot see it.

[Daedelus1138]

Personally I believe all religions will be going downhill for now and the end of time, and the protestants are no exception. Speaking of actual adherents I mean. I cannot understand the arguments that is sometimes heard that religion will have a big role in the future... I just cannot see it.

  The western world is in decline and they have also been the major force behind secularism so I think the chances for religion are actually very good.  The future of religion is going to be alot less hierarchical and decentralized, however.

[TheTrisagion]

Not a great outlook for Orthodoxy, there.  

Why not? Projected growth, at least, from a current 279,547,000 to 291,492,000 Orthodox Christians in the next twelve years (line 32). Compare the study's current 439,565,000 Protestants, but splintered into the current figure 44,000 denominations.

Perhaps the continuing exponential trend toward factionalism and chaos in Protestantism reflected in this data -55,000 Protestant denominations by 2025- will make Orthodox unity even over the course of 20 centuries, and multiple nationalities, languages, and cultures, appear not only increasingly attractive, but as genuinely miraculous is it really is by comparison.

To put it in purely secular terms, we are losing market share.