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Decline. Shrinkage. Becoming less. Becoming smaller. It’s not fun stuff. It doesn’t lift the spirits to say these words, or to read them. And yet this has been the experience of many Christian denominations in Europe and North America over half a century and more.
How ought a theologian respond to this situation? Across the course of my career, I’ve seen two broad strategies from fellow theologians in response to church decline. Both seem to me to be, ultimately, forms of denial.
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