A Catalyst for Change: A Case Study & Reflection on Culture Shift in American EvangelicalismBy Dan Davis

The ‘Emerging Church Movement’ is largely

a post-modern & post-boomer-generation

Evangelical reform movement, reacting

against 80’s & 90’s over-identification with

Right Wing political agendas.

It will either:

1. If rejected: Aid the erosion of

Evangelical numbers and influence.

2. If embraced: Alter Evangelical

political alliances.

A Nationwide Poll* Revealed:

In 1999, 65% of Americans believed that religion was

losing its influence in public life…

At the same time, a nearly equal amount, 62% claimed that the influence of religion was increasing in their

personal lives.

*Roof, Wade Clark. 1999. Spiritual Marketplace: Baby Boomers and the Remaking of American Religion. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.

And the Survey Says:

GSS: In 1985, 4.6% of U.S. Christians claimed no official denominational affiliation.

In 2004, this had arisen to 18.5%.

A Barna Poll (2009) found that between 4% to 33% of the U.S. population will say they have attended a house church in the last 30 days depending on how the question is worded.

Nationwide:Gallup, 1964: “Have you undergone a religious experience of some variety?”

20% Yes

GSS, 2004: “Do you feel God’s presence on a daily basis?”

60% Yes

Baylor, 2008: “I felt called by God to do something.”

44% Yes

“I heard the voice of God speaking to me.”

20% Yes

Richard Flory & Don Miller, USC

“Rationalistic apologetics are largely irrelevant to [GenX] religious commitments,

having been replaced by an experience-based epistemology.”

From: GenX Religion (2000)

Richard Flory & Don Miller, USC

The Key Findings, Shifts in Five Areas:

1. Church Service Style

2. Organizational Structure

3. Locus of Ministry Emphasis

4. Issues of Diversity

5. Primary Source of Authority

From: GenX Religion (2000)

Pre-Boomer BoomerPost-Boomer*S

tyl

eS

tructu

re

Foc

us

Div

ersit

y

Au

thorit

y

*Post-Boomer Column Adapted from Flory & Miller (2000)

Pre-Boomer BoomerPost-BoomerS

tyl

e

Pre-Boomer BoomerPost-BoomerS

tructu

re

Assortive Networks Disassortive Networks

Pre-Boomer BoomerPost-BoomerFo

cu

s

Pre-Boomer BoomerPost-BoomerD

iversit

y

Gene Robinson

Pre-Boomer BoomerPost-BoomerA

uth

orit

y

Summarizing Themes

Future of Evangelicalism?

• As it recedes in religious market-share…

• As it decouples from Right Wing political alliances…

Future of the Emerging Church?

The shifts can be linked to broader nationwide generational shifts. See Putnam’s American Grace (2010).