Has God Lost Importance in Today's World?

One of the things I have noticed, over the years, is that the importance of worship has dwindled a lot. In the 1040s and 50s to be a member of a church was ‘the thing’!  People even gave their church membership as a reference point on resumes. So what has changed?  Is it because people don’t believe in God anymore?  Or, is it because people have  experienced, in the institution church, something that has turned them off?  Or, is it the message that churches give?  Or is it the way they conduct worship?  Or is it just a “generational thing”?  Or, a little of all of the above?

In recent years I have tried to be very attentive to this trend.  I have tried to engage people in conversations about the ‘why’.  Some are reluctant to say!  Probably because I am a pastor and they don’t want to expose their true feelings.  I do not believe that God has become any less important.  I don’t think for a minute that the population’s faith has just ended.  All you have to do is go online to understand that God is one of the most popular points of interest for people today.  So why are church congregations becoming smaller and smaller and worship attendance numbers falling in small percentages each year?

I would really like some impute on this issue!  It is important to me!  As a matter of fact, this issue is why I wanted to start a blog — to get open honest conversation with others on their thoughts and questions.  Because, I am almost sure that this trend towards negative numbers in worship has everything to do with what the various denominations have done with the Word of God.  That is, “What it says in the Bible”!  I have  personal experience with what a negative effect some claims to theology have had on the young people, and others, I have been bless to serve.   One young man came home from college on Easter break and talked to me about how one of the "Christian" organization on campus made him feel.  He said to me: “Pastor Marcia, if that is what Christianity is really all about I don’t want anything to do with it.”  There is something very wrong with a Christian witness that turns people away.  That makes people feel that what they believe is not good enough — or “not right”.  And, I believe that this is the point of institutional religions decline.  It is most certainly not because of God!  It is because of what humans have done with the word of God!