Mainstream Dilemma?

If we take time to look at Statistics Canada's information with respect to religious identity we will see that there is an uncomfortable and alarming trend emerging with respect to main stream Protestantism. (By mainstream I mean, the United Church, the Lutheran Church, Anglican and Presbyterian Churches.) A quick read of the numbers tell us that less than 30% of Canadians now identify themselves as members of main stream Protestant denominations and a growing 31% now do not self identify with any Christian denomination. Since Catholicism and Evangelicalism have remained somewhat stable, this rise in the number of people who do not self identify with a Church would appear to be coming from the declining numbers we mainstream Protestant denominations are experiencing.

What is it about our mainstream protestant denominations that have given rise to this trend?

I am sure there are many reasons why we are losing people but it would seem to me that one of the most obvious reasons lies in the liberal evolution of mainstream Protestantism over the last 40-50 years. It's not that liberalism is a bad thing - in fact its quite good, particularly as it applies to social policy as well as respect for the inherent dignity of all people. The difficulty, I think, is that we often forget to ground ourselves in sound theology. Many of the mainstream Protestant denominations have abandoned or at least softened many of the classical doctrines of Christianity - Trinity, Incarnation, Divinity of Jesus, Redemption and Salvation. In doing this we've generated a kind of "no-name" spirituality. In other words, society hears from the Church nothing distinctly Christian. The good and gospel social justice work we undertake becomes no different than the justice work of any other organization or non-profit charity. The result is that the Church simply becomes an ECHO of the culture. We hear from the Church pretty much what we hear from anywhere else in the secular world. The consequence - people say "why bother". There is nothing distincitive to our identity as a Church.

I'm not sure that dilemma is even the correct word to use - since dillemma implies that the difficulty experienced has two possible answers. Challenge isn't even a good word to describe the current situation since challenge is a defiant call to engage.

Whatever the correct word might be, it would appear that the Canadian statistics are sending a warning sound to the Church. Will we stand as something with a distinct identity or will we simply allow our environment to continue to consume us until we lack identity and spirit and have become nothing more than another agency of "good will".