Thom Rainer gives a summary of his findings here. The gist of it is that the church in the USA is not reproducing itself, and, if things continue as they are, Christianity in America will go the way of Christianity in Europe, where it’s all but gone.
Here’s a summary:
1. Churches are doctrinally ineffective.
2. Church leaders are less evangelistic—half the pastors Rainer surveyed had made no evangelistic efforts for 6 months.
3. The minor distractions (such as budgets and furniture) are effective in distracting us from major tasks, like evangelism and discipleship.
Read the whole thing here.
What we need is another great awakening. We need a move of God’s Spirit like what we see in the book of Jonah, where in spite of his sinfulness the man of God is forced to minister to the Ninevites. May God use many of us like Jonah, who in spite of his disobedience was heard first by the sailors, who feared Yahweh and sacrificed to him in response to Jonah’s message (Jon 1:16). And then on his arrival in Nineveh, Jonah’s proclamation results in everyone repenting (3:5), and the king and his great ones even proclaim a fast (3:6–9): “Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish” (3:9).
O God, please do again in our day what you did in Jonah’s: force the one who speaks your word to proclaim it! And please, Lord, let not the word fall on deaf ears, let not those who speak your word meet the response found by Jeremiah. O God, in mercy, send your Spirit and kindly lead many to repentance, for the glory of your name and the good of these people. O God, please pity Houston like you pitied Nineveh (Jon 4:11), for like them, we don’t know our right hand from our left and there is much cattle!.