I’ve attended church for most of my life. I grew up in a Christian family that attended church nearly every Sunday morning, many Sunday nights, and even some Wednesday nights.
Through the 80s and 90s, it seems church leaders were relatively well respected. Like doctors, lawyers, and emergency responders. There was honor and reverence for the role.
As we all know, it’s not the 1900s any longer.
Trust in Church Leadership by the Numbers
Intuitively, it’s obvious our respect for positions like pastors has devolved. The metrics prove this true.
Gallup has measured public trust of clergy since 1977. From the inception of this research until 2002, church leaders were rated as one of the most trusted professions. Trust dropped quickly in 2002 amid sexual abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church.
While the clergy’s high/very high ethics ratings recovered to some degree in subsequent years, they fell to 50% in 2009 and have been declining since 2012 as Americans’ religious identification and church attendance have also fallen. The latest reading of 34% for clergy members is the lowest by two points.
If you’re a Christian not leading a church, you’ve not escaped this horrific trend, either. A Barna research study in 2022 found that only 8% of non-Christians have a “somewhat positive” or better view of Christians.
The Eternal Implications of Declining Trust
If you’re a Christian, do you remember how you came to faith in Jesus?
I was a child, so my path was simpler (without all the adult baggage). Regardless of how your story became your story, we all share some similar paths.
The first step in nearly every faith story begins with a non-believer liking a Christian. Over time, this non-believer starts to trust this Christian. Eventually, trusting a Christian migrates to asking questions and trusting Jesus.
This is how evangelism works best. It’s not about “outreach” and events. It’s about individual Christians being liked and trusted by the non-believing community.
We will struggle to overpopulate heaven if the Gallup and Barna data is valid. Only 8% of people currently have a somewhat favorable view of Christians. We’ve dug God a deep hole.
Fixing Our (Un)Likability
This seems like an impossible task, but we’ve got to try. If left unaddressed, the trend of the data continues, and Christianity continues to decline at alarming rates.
We’ve got to try something.
As I’ve worked with churches and pastors around the country, here are some potential suggestions I’ve discovered:
1. Stop Ignoring the Problem
We cannot pretend all is well. Ignoring the problem doesn’t negate the issue.
While your church may be full and well-funded, the overall church is declining, and our unchurched population continues to grow.
If you take eternity seriously, we must recognize this trend and begin working to fix it.
