Will the Church Survive in England?

For those of you who have read our latest book, Already Gone, you are aware of the collapse of Christianity in Britain and Europe—and also the warning I give in that book that America is heading in the same direction, if God’s people don’t wake up and recognize the foundational attack on biblical authority that has greatly affected the church in the Western world.

Further confirmation of what is happening in England can be seen in a recent report by a clergyman who wrote for the UK Telegraph:

Britain is no longer a Christian nation If recent trends are any guide, many Church of England parishes will have been cheered by higher attendances at Easter services. The last published statistics for 2006/7 show rises of 7 and 5 per cent in church going at Christmas and Easter.

But these figures are just about the only signs of hope for the church and certainly not the first green shoots of a revival. Other statistics make for gloomy reading.

Annual decline in Sunday attendance is running at around 1 per cent. At this rate it is hard to see the church surviving for more than 30 years though few of its leaders are prepared to face that possibility.

In the short term we are likely to see more closures of buildings as the church battles to meet a big pension bill, pay clergy, and maintain a large bureaucracy.

. . . If decline continues, Christian Research has estimated that in five years’ time church closures will accelerate from their present rate of 30 a year to 200 a year as dwindling congregations find the cost of keeping them open too great.

. . . The church is being hit by a double whammy: on the one hand it confronts the challenge of institutional decline but on the other hand it has to face the rise of cultural and religious pluralism in Britain.

. . . How it responds to the second challenge will be crucial in determining whether it will be able to survive as a viable organisation and make a contribution to national life.

At present church leaders show little signs of understanding the situation. They don't understand the culture we now live in.

Many bishops prefer to turn their heads, to carry on as if nothing has changed, rather than face the reality that Britain is no longer a Christian nation.

The UK is a nation where the church leaders compromised millions of years and evolutionary ideas into Genesis beginning back in the early 19th century. They are now reaping the consequences of the loss of biblical authority and, thus, the loss of the coming generations from the church.

The research conducted by America’s Research Group (headed up by Britt Beemer), and reported on in our book Already Gone, demonstrates that the same problems are occurring in the church in the USA. Sadly, generations have not been taught to stand uncompromisingly on the authority of the Word of God and defend the Christian faith against the secular attacks.

You can read the entire Telegraph article at this link.

Audio Tour of Petting Zoo Now Available

The Creation Museum is thrilled to announce we now have a cell phone audio tour available for the Petting Zoo on our grounds. One of the reasons for having the Petting Zoo is to help people understand that there can be many different varieties and species within each kind of animal—but Noah only needed two representatives (7 of some) of each land animal kind—not each variety or species—on the Ark.

When you arrive at the Petting Zoo, you will read instructions on how to access this audio tour. A guest who used this audio tour recently wrote to us:

We tried the Audio Tour and loved it! The petting zoo at the Creation Museum is way better than the Cincinnati Zoo's! The animals are so friendly!

Already Gone Impacting Churches

Recently, when making a request for a speaker from AiG for a church, a Christian leader wrote:

After reading Already Gone and realizing our methods are ineffective with the youth, we are trying to incorporate lessons that will emphasize a biblical worldview. We are also starting the Answers Academy . . . and would use this as a kickoff for our church to understand the significance of defending and living our Christian faith. Our three sister churches and many other affiliated local churches would be invited along with friends of current church attendees would also be invited.

50,000 copies of Already Gone are now in print—with a fifth printing to be ordered soon. You can obtain single and discounted bulk copies of the book from the AiG online bookstore.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken