How to Grow the Church as Religion Becomes Less Popular

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Simplyasking1

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Hello,

With so much confusion out there in the world today, we all need to seek a relationship with God. Yet, it is so hard to convince people to do so.

Why do you think that is? And how can we bring more people into the faith as Catholics? And what moral theological or apologetical trait of the Church is most compelling to converts?

As always, God bless!
 
Make sure we ourselves are striving for holiness. Try to plant seeds here and there among friends and acquaintances. Above all, pray to the Holy Spirit for conversion of hearts. We can do little, but God can multiply greatly the small efforts we make.
 
AMEN. I can’t tell you how many times it blows my mind to see crabby, cranky, or just downright mean Catholics. Well, to be honest with you, I wouldn’t join a church that made me crabby, cranky or mean either.
 
Simplyasking1 said:
With so much confusion out there in the world today, we all need to seek a relationship with God. Yet, it is so hard to convince people to do so.

Why do you think that is?
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Perhaps because a lot of the people who say they have a “relationship with God” are obnoxious jerks or worse, giving the rest of us a bad name, whether we are Catholic or Protestant or Muslim. Young people no longer associate the words “Christian” and “religion” with charity and virtues anymore. They associate it with bigotry and hatred. And who can blame them. Why would they want to be part of a “club” with members like that.

The only way to reverse that is to become the city on the hill that Jesus commanded us to be, and to be an example worth emulating. Just following the two Great Commandments sincerely and completely is the only thing we can do.

I’m not very hopeful, though, as I think the concept of religion has been irreparably skunked in the minds of the younger generations, at least the the most developed countries. Perhaps all we can realistically do is plan for a managed decline, which is something a lot of bishops have been doing for the last twenty odd years.

We are going to see a demographic winter, hastened and aggravated by this pandemic, with a lot more church and school closings to come, and a huge drop in financial resources. Learning how to live the faith in that reality is going to be our largest challenge.
 
Grow as in numbers? Become more secular and loosen “hard” rules and teachings. Offer guidelines but no real consequences. Allow gay marriage, allow divorce and remarriage, allow birth control, soften abortion stance, change the mass to be “entertaining” but don’t require attendance. Allow people to join without RCIA.

Grow as in faith? The opposite of all mentioned.
 
Just go case by case - individual by individual. Think of them as Christ would, not a part of a goal. It’s not a sales campaign.
 
I thought the Episcopalians tried that and their numbers have shrunk almost to vanishing point.
 
Another pet peeve, “Grow the Church” although thank the LORD they put a ‘the’ and it’s not “Grow Church”. Bleah.

I grow plants. I don’t ‘grow the Church”.

If we want to help the Church TO grow, we can call a spade a spade (so to speak), try to sound less like a corporation, and more like people who have found absolute truth and Joy in a person named Jesus, and want to tell everybody they meet how wonderful He is.
 
It would help if Catholics were more vocal against things like transgenderism and also the movement of money from the poor to the rich via the exportation of jobs from America to China for example. We have a society where the left wing of politics and much of the centre is almost entirely dominated by Atheists and liberal Protestants, Catholics need i think to become more vocal on core issues in society, i know a lot of things are at stake like being forced out of ones job for speaking out about certain things but can we really afford to be stagnant and let anti Catholic anti life voices grow louder and louder?
 
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God has not left or abandoned us in this trying time for humankind. For me, choosing to be happy, stregthening my faith, recognizing the continous assault is not slowing up and serving others, with charity — no conditions ------ bottom line for me, is what would our Advocate and Mediator with God, Jesus Christ do? His mortal ministry continues to uplift and inspire ---- I pray for Christians and all believers in general. Kind regards and love.
 
This age is very secularized. Very tough to evangelize. Sometimes all we can do is be good examples of life and pray for the conversion of unbelievers.
 
Times change so maybe people will become more open to the faith, I think it would help if we try to live out a simple virtuous life.
 
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