One reason for declining churches is that cultural Christianity is less prominent, and therefore those who attended church simply as a social function, may no longer feel the need to attend. In that case, they were likely not true believers to begin with.
Another reason is that, through the twentieth century, people began migrating more and more to cities. Smaller, rural churches tried (and are still trying) to survive, but with fewer members, they often struggle. Rainer cites statistics saying that over 80 percent of Americans today live in cities. Small town churches may be iconic and picturesque, but they seem to be part of a culture of days gone by.
Yet another reason for church decline is that churches often are slow to keep up with cultural and technological shifts. Rainer states, “To be clear, I am speaking about issues of style, methodology, and awareness, not changing doctrine or biblical truths. A church guest I recently interviewed said it clearly: ‘I stuck with my parents’ church as long as I could. But when we had a big blow up over projection screens in the worship center, I had enough. I wanted to go to a church where matters of minutia were not issues to fight over.’
