The Mainstream Protestant "Decline": The Presbyterian Pattern

by Milton J. Coalter (Editor)

The meaning of the declining membership in mainline Protestant denominations has been hotly contested since the 1960s. Drawing on statistical analysis of membership trends, congregational surveys, individual interviews, research on disaffiliation, and case studies of congregations and presbyteries, this volume examines patterns and causes of congregational growth and decline in the Presbyterian church. Through its examination of American Presbyterianism, the Presbyterian Presence series illuminates patterns of change in mainstream Protestantism and American religious and cultural life in the twentieth century.

264 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1990

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty dry read, but I picked it up after becoming sincerely interested in the almost uniformly downward trajectory of mainline protestant churches in America.

Honestly, the lifeless, clinical, even carnal assessment of their own condition, at least as presented from the Presbyterian vantage point in this particular book, is very telling. I don't think the Holy Spirit was even mentioned.