Martin Marty: Conservative Churches Recruit Effectively
Being inviting can be a prescription for success, says noted church historian the Rev. Martin Marty.
Today's growing evangelical/ fundamentalist churches are finding that out, sometimes at the expense of traditional U.S. Christian denominations, whose numbers have steadily declined.
"The growing churches know they won't be there tomorrow unless they get out and win their kids, their neighbors and everybody else," Marty said in an interview.
As for denominations like his own Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "You have to say that because you coasted, you never developed a style of knowing you have to win others," he said.
Marty, author, lecturer and professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, spoke yesterday at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Bexley.
He said another reason evangelical/fundamentalist churches are sprouting is the shift toward "rigorous fundamentalism" in religion worldwide.
"The world is firing point- blank at you and it's coming from all directions . . . and you build shields against it," Marty said. "You see moral change, you see social change, you feel a loss of control."
Today's growing evangelical/ fundamentalist churches are finding that out, sometimes at the expense of traditional U.S. Christian denominations, whose numbers have steadily declined.
"The growing churches know they won't be there tomorrow unless they get out and win their kids, their neighbors and everybody else," Marty said in an interview.
As for denominations like his own Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, "You have to say that because you coasted, you never developed a style of knowing you have to win others," he said.
Marty, author, lecturer and professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, spoke yesterday at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Bexley.
He said another reason evangelical/fundamentalist churches are sprouting is the shift toward "rigorous fundamentalism" in religion worldwide.
"The world is firing point- blank at you and it's coming from all directions . . . and you build shields against it," Marty said. "You see moral change, you see social change, you feel a loss of control."