The Decline of Baseball and the Church

     Baseball's ratings are declining, and it's fanbase is aging.  In an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal, Matthew Futterman shows how baseball is on a mission to be relevant in a fast-changing culture.  

• The average age of a regular season baseball viewer is 57.  (With the NBA, it's 40.)
  
• Games are 30 minutes longer than the average in the 1970's, causing many people to turn the TV off or leave the game early.
  
• 13.8 million viewers watched the 2014 World Series, 16% less that the last seven game Series in 2011, and 44% fewer than the seven game Series in 1997.
  

     Sounds a bit like the church in America.  Aging, declining in numbers, and denominations collapsing.  Baseball has been known as "America's game."  And Christianity has been known as "America's religion."  You could argue against both of those today.  

     While Christian leaders have been discussing "post-Christian" America for years, the chatter has been reinvigorated by a recent Pew Research study.  

       Ed Stetzer's article here tempers the panic a bit.  "In this case, many are failing to see that the percentage of people who are convictional Christians has remained relatively steady, while those with nominal Christian conviction are shedding the label."


      The cultural and religious landscape of our country is complex and rapidly changing.  As a pastor, I see clear evidence of change.  What we once talked about as happening "sometime in the future" is now present reality.  

      I have some more thoughts that I'll post later.  But for now, let me say that I'm excited.  Yes, I said excited.  God has a way of working in times of challenge.  In fact, he does his mightiest work in the face of impossibility and hostility.