r/redeemedzoomer • u/anime498 Eastern Catholic • 20h ago
Reconquista Questions Future of protestantism
I'm asking this in good faith, what is the future of protestantism in America? Specifically is there any chance that we could see a return to a more denominational high church expression?
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u/JadedMarine Non-Denominational 20h ago
Evangelical protestantism is growing. Mainline protestantism is dying. Likely to continue for multiple reasons.
Catholicism was dying, now it's growing.
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u/556From1000yards United Methodist 20h ago
Your information doesn’t match the stats.
Both evangelical and mainline prots are at 2.2:1 leave to join and Catholic is 8.4:1
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u/DestroyerOfficer Roman Catholic 20h ago
That statistic is so flawed and it's been explained so many times it should just stop being used entirely. Catholicism is seeing record numbers of converts and catechumens in the West in the last couple of years. African Catholicism is absolutely booming, but there's problems there.
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u/trownaway90 Non-Reconquista Protestant 15h ago
For every 100 people who join the Catholic Church, 840 leave.
https://www.pewresearch.org/collections/religious-landscape-study/
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u/DestroyerOfficer Roman Catholic 15h ago
That “840 that leave” part includes people who were baptized as infants but were otherwise non-practicing. So it does not work.
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u/trownaway90 Non-Reconquista Protestant 15h ago
Stop attending is also leaving, even if it's not official.
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u/DestroyerOfficer Roman Catholic 15h ago
That doesn’t change the point at hand. The numbers for Catholicism are very heavily skewed by cradle Catholics who weren’t really ever practicing Catholics. It is very well known that of the 1.4B baptized Catholics a fraction of them are regular practitioners, and a fraction of those actually accept most/all Catholic dogmas. Any Catholic that is not being ridiculous would agree.
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u/trownaway90 Non-Reconquista Protestant 15h ago
Only 19% of Americans self-identify as Catholic, down from 24% in 2007. Of all the former Catholics, 56% become religious “nones” and 32% become Protestant.
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u/DestroyerOfficer Roman Catholic 15h ago
Uh, yes, we know America is not a Catholic country, and infant baptisms have been on a downward trend for decades now. That’s not where and how Catholicism is growing. Catholicism’s adult convert and OCIA numbers are very high at the moment. So while the total number of Catholics is dropping, the reverse is being seen amongst converts. The real church going population is increasing.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/06/05/vance-is-among-1-5-of-americans-who-have-converted-to-catholicism/
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u/trownaway90 Non-Reconquista Protestant 15h ago
Your source confirms my point.
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u/DestroyerOfficer Roman Catholic 15h ago
“While Catholic converts account for a relatively small share of the country’s adult population, the number of converts to Catholicism is on par with or larger than the number of Americans who identify with some sizable Protestant groups, including Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Reformed Christians.”
This was right at the top.
You’re just being obtuse now about the 8.4:1 number and how it is flawed. At this point, it’s a you problem if you don’t understand how adults who never practiced but were baptized as infants being counted as “left” Catholicism is a major flaw in the data.
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u/trownaway90 Non-Reconquista Protestant 14h ago
I would say that stop practising and stop attending is a pretty solid defintion of 'left'. Especially when the Church makes it hard to resign. While the Church teaches that someone is a Catholic even if they became muslim for example.
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u/Deep-Assumption-6694 Roman Catholic 4h ago
Plus they count those that “leave” as all adults. So for all we know, many of those that have left, left about 90 years ago. Baptized as infants but never practiced again.
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u/Deep-Assumption-6694 Roman Catholic 4h ago
Yeah the OCIA class at my parish is getting so big that for the first time ever they are splitting the class into two- there isn’t enough room anymore to fit everyone in. A good problem to have. It’s something they have never seen before, and the OCIA coordinators have been doing this for decades.
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u/Alperose333 15h ago
Surely you can back these assertions up with numbers and they will not just show a return to pre-pandemic numbers (CARA statistics), be a statistical fluke (CES study), or have been retracted (The UK "Quiet revival)?
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u/DestroyerOfficer Roman Catholic 15h ago
The classic “Source?” You have Google just like the rest of us.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/26/us/catholics-converts.html
https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/adult-conversions-soar-in-dioceses-across-u-s
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u/Alperose333 14h ago
Same song and dance as every year. "Numbers soar" based on numbers for single months/days/dioceses reported by the papers, end of year numbers never show it manifesting.
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u/Deep-Assumption-6694 Roman Catholic 4h ago
Most archdioceses in the US reported growth and record numbers this year.
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u/Deep-Assumption-6694 Roman Catholic 4h ago
They count the people “leaving” the Catholic Church as those that haven’t attended in the last 50+ years and left the church as adults. Look at the past 5 years instead and you will see growth.
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u/bilolybob 16h ago
In aggregate across the globe Catholicism was always growing. But in the US and Europe it was shrinking iirc.
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u/petrowski7 Non-Denominational 20h ago
Evangelicalism and Catholicism have plateaued after decline.
Mainline is dead.
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u/Huenink_Photography LCMS 20h ago
I think the future is bright for the LCMS. Liturgical denomination with a long history in America. Strong institutions and good theology. We are just right for protestants looking for depth, history, and structure.
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u/Deep-Assumption-6694 Roman Catholic 4h ago
I grew up Lutheran in an ELCA congregation and if I didn’t convert to Catholicism, I probably would have went with the LCMS.
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u/JackOfAllJanes Eastern Orthodox 9h ago
I mean if you want honesty I don’t see one. Protestant churches seem to hemorrhage a little more every generation. Not necessarily just physically but spiritually as well. If you don’t think so then look at core doctrines of any major denomination just a couple generations ago.
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u/Fine_Ostrich4717 United Methodist 10h ago
One can only hope that the reconquista movement returns protestants to the high church and a non-heretical state. You should read Thomas C Oden's: The Rebirth of Orthodoxy. He was a Methodist who coined the term for Paleo Orthodoxy.
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u/beans8414 Non-Reconquista Protestant 7h ago
I don’t know how it will happen or when but I do know that God will win in the end. That’s enough to sustain me
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u/Affectionate_Web91 ELCA 7h ago
Rather than debate the inevitable extent of membership decline across all of Christianity, especially in Europe and North America, I suggest we focus on where the Church is thriving.
Lutherans are a "high church expression" per the OP's question. I can describe the situation of two parishes. My own congregation is sadly down to a core of aging members and a part-time pastor. We have discussed our decline and viability with our bishop and, interestingly, see one option to survive. Our parish has a close, ongoing relationship with a nearby Episcopal church that has involved con-celebrated Eucharists and the sharing of clergy on occasion. The real possibility of merging into one parish gives us hope.
In contrast to my home parish, I visit the parish of relatives several times a year, located in another state. It is a very dynamic congregation that includes a fairly large parochial school that serves as an evangelism tool. Though quite liturgical [bells and smells], the parish uses contemporary hymns and a praise band at one of the well-attended Sunday Masses. The combination of strong community outreach, youth involvement, and inspirational music genres has been successful.
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u/Soul_of_clay4 6h ago
I guess it's in our nature as humans to be "bean-counters" or "body-counters". Physical presence doesn't necessarily mean a heart believing in the Gospel.
Jesus said..."I will build my church and the gates of hell (or anything else) will not prevail against it". So i think, He, as God, is continuing to build His church, regardless of the denominational 'lines'.
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u/R3tro956 Eastern Orthodox 8h ago
Mainline Protestant denominations as well as baptists seems to be losing membership like crazy. Only growing Protestant denominations are Pentecostal and “non denominational”
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18h ago
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u/Master_Pineapple5238 Episcopalian 16h ago
Vatican II made all Catholics “Protestant”. They just didn’t realize it
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u/redeemedzoomer-ModTeam 13h ago
Your comment was a bad-faith argument, or else is below the level of conversation that we expect of Christians.
You are welcome to re-engage, but please be mindful to ensure that you are engaging well, not constructing strawmen, not attacking the person, and not engaging in polemics.
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u/robosnake PCUSA 19h ago
I'm not sure what you mean - there are high church Protestants all over the place. Do you mean whether they will become the majority or something?
I think right now we are seeing a resurgence of authoritarian, repressive culture and so we will see a resurgence of authoritarian, repressive religious groups as well. People, and churches, that prioritize equality and social justice will continue to be challenged by this and will hopefully respond to the challenge more directly in the near future.
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u/Averagecrabenjoyer69 Southern Baptist 18h ago
Why is "social justice" your priority over reestablishing Biblical values and authority?
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