{"id":824068,"date":"2024-03-28T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=824068"},"modified":"2024-05-25T08:14:16","modified_gmt":"2024-05-25T13:14:16","slug":"evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/","title":{"rendered":"Evangelicalism Is Not Dying Among Younger Generations (The Future May Not Be So Grim)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<div class=\"content-restriction-preview\"><p>I grew up in a Southern Baptist church in the 1990s. I was about as evangelical as I could be without knowing what that term meant. I had a closet full of Christian t-shirts, a shelf full of books that I had purchased from Daystar Christian Books in my bedroom, and my CD case was full of artists like DC Talk, Jars of Clay, and Third Day. One of the most difficult decisions my youth pastor had to make was which music festivals and conferences the high school students should attend. There were just too many options.<\/p> <p>There were festivals like Cornerstone, Ichthus, and Agape that had tens of thousands of people show up to listen to the newest music from the most popular bands in Contemporary Christian Music. Now, all three of those festivals have either disbanded completely or are seeing attendance measured in the hundreds, not the thousands.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"content-restriction-block\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"content-restriction-block-login login-toggle\">Already a member? <a href=\"#\">Log in<\/a><\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"content-restriction-block-content\">\n\t\t\t\t<h2>Unlock premium content!<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Get access to all Church Answers premium content from our expert contributors plus many other membership benefits.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<h3>$9.97 per month<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Unlimited access<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/join\/\" class=\"button\">Join Now<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<div class=\"content-restriction-preview\"><p>I grew up in a Southern Baptist church in the 1990s. I was about as evangelical as I could be without knowing what that term meant. I had a closet full of Christian t-shirts, a shelf full of books that I had purchased from Daystar Christian Books in my bedroom, and my CD case was full of artists like DC Talk, Jars of Clay, and Third Day. One of the most difficult decisions my youth pastor had to make was which music festivals and conferences the high school students should attend. There were just too many options.<\/p> <p>There were festivals like Cornerstone, Ichthus, and Agape that had tens of thousands of people show up to listen to the newest music from the most popular bands in Contemporary Christian Music. Now, all three of those festivals have either disbanded completely or are seeing attendance measured in the hundreds, not the thousands.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"content-restriction-block\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"content-restriction-block-login login-toggle\">Already a member? <a href=\"#\">Log in<\/a><\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"content-restriction-block-content\">\n\t\t\t\t<h2>Unlock premium content!<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Get access to all Church Answers premium content from our expert contributors plus many other membership benefits.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<h3>$9.97 per month<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Unlimited access<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/join\/\" class=\"button\">Join Now<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t","protected":false},"author":17635,"featured_media":824073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,175,186,14796,180,18058,176],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-824068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-grow","category-health-and-metrics","category-monday-wednesday-featured","category-outreach-and-evangelism","category-premium","category-revitalize","membership-content","access-restricted"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Evangelicalism Is Not Dying Among Younger Generations (The Future May Not Be So Grim) | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s helpful to start broadly\u2013what percentage of young people willingly identify as evangelical on surveys? The Cooperative Election Study has been asking that question since 2008. In those early waves, more than a quarter of 18-29-year-olds said that they were evangelical or born-again. That share was relatively consistent over the next five or six years. But the percentages began to slowly creep downward. By 2016, it was pretty clear that evangelicalism had dropped by two or three points among the youngest adults. However, there has been a much more abrupt decline in the last five years or so. Between 2018 and 2022, the share of 18-29-year-olds who willingly embrace the evangelical label was about 22%. There\u2019s a statistically significant decline of about 4 percentage points from the data collected ten years prior. It\u2019s unmistakably true that evangelical self-identification has declined among the youngest adults.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Evangelicalism Is Not Dying Among Younger Generations (The Future May Not Be So Grim) | Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s helpful to start broadly\u2013what percentage of young people willingly identify as evangelical on surveys? The Cooperative Election Study has been asking that question since 2008. In those early waves, more than a quarter of 18-29-year-olds said that they were evangelical or born-again. That share was relatively consistent over the next five or six years. But the percentages began to slowly creep downward. By 2016, it was pretty clear that evangelicalism had dropped by two or three points among the youngest adults. However, there has been a much more abrupt decline in the last five years or so. Between 2018 and 2022, the share of 18-29-year-olds who willingly embrace the evangelical label was about 22%. There\u2019s a statistically significant decline of about 4 percentage points from the data collected ten years prior. It\u2019s unmistakably true that evangelical self-identification has declined among the youngest adults.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-28T10:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-25T13:14:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-new-18.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ryan Burge\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ryan Burge\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ryan Burge\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d5a336fe7fb2e2336148e844c396558a\"},\"headline\":\"Evangelicalism Is Not Dying Among Younger Generations (The Future May Not Be So Grim)\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-28T10:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-25T13:14:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/\"},\"wordCount\":1287,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-new-18.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Church Answers\",\"Grow\",\"Health &amp; Metrics\",\"Monday\/Wednesday Featured\",\"Outreach &amp; Evangelism\",\"Premium\",\"Revitalize\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/\",\"name\":\"Evangelicalism Is Not Dying Among Younger Generations (The Future May Not Be So Grim) | Church Answers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-new-18.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-28T10:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-25T13:14:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d5a336fe7fb2e2336148e844c396558a\"},\"description\":\"It\u2019s helpful to start broadly\u2013what percentage of young people willingly identify as evangelical on surveys? The Cooperative Election Study has been asking that question since 2008. In those early waves, more than a quarter of 18-29-year-olds said that they were evangelical or born-again. That share was relatively consistent over the next five or six years. But the percentages began to slowly creep downward. By 2016, it was pretty clear that evangelicalism had dropped by two or three points among the youngest adults. However, there has been a much more abrupt decline in the last five years or so. Between 2018 and 2022, the share of 18-29-year-olds who willingly embrace the evangelical label was about 22%. There\u2019s a statistically significant decline of about 4 percentage points from the data collected ten years prior. It\u2019s unmistakably true that evangelical self-identification has declined among the youngest adults.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-new-18.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-new-18.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":628,\"caption\":\"Evangelicalism Is Not Dying Among Younger Generations (The Future May Not Be So Grim)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Evangelicalism Is Not Dying Among Younger Generations (The Future May Not Be So Grim)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/\",\"name\":\"Church Answers\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d5a336fe7fb2e2336148e844c396558a\",\"name\":\"Ryan Burge\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/56879a20cb590828ec05138ab0896cecf173024f2bf472bb1fb8dd0ad8f13fe0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/56879a20cb590828ec05138ab0896cecf173024f2bf472bb1fb8dd0ad8f13fe0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ryan Burge\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Ryan Burge is professor of practice at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. Before that he was an associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, and was also the graduate coordinator. He has authored over thirty peer-reviewed articles and book chapters alongside six books (including The Vanishing Church, The Nones, and The Great Dechurching) about religion and politics in the United States. He served as a pastor in the American Baptist Church for over twenty years, leading First Baptist Church of Mount Vernon, IL for 17.5 years until its closure in July 2024.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/author\/ryanburge\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Evangelicalism Is Not Dying Among Younger Generations (The Future May Not Be So Grim) | Church Answers","description":"It\u2019s helpful to start broadly\u2013what percentage of young people willingly identify as evangelical on surveys? The Cooperative Election Study has been asking that question since 2008. In those early waves, more than a quarter of 18-29-year-olds said that they were evangelical or born-again. That share was relatively consistent over the next five or six years. But the percentages began to slowly creep downward. By 2016, it was pretty clear that evangelicalism had dropped by two or three points among the youngest adults. However, there has been a much more abrupt decline in the last five years or so. Between 2018 and 2022, the share of 18-29-year-olds who willingly embrace the evangelical label was about 22%. There\u2019s a statistically significant decline of about 4 percentage points from the data collected ten years prior. It\u2019s unmistakably true that evangelical self-identification has declined among the youngest adults.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Evangelicalism Is Not Dying Among Younger Generations (The Future May Not Be So Grim) | Church Answers","og_description":"It\u2019s helpful to start broadly\u2013what percentage of young people willingly identify as evangelical on surveys? The Cooperative Election Study has been asking that question since 2008. In those early waves, more than a quarter of 18-29-year-olds said that they were evangelical or born-again. That share was relatively consistent over the next five or six years. But the percentages began to slowly creep downward. By 2016, it was pretty clear that evangelicalism had dropped by two or three points among the youngest adults. However, there has been a much more abrupt decline in the last five years or so. Between 2018 and 2022, the share of 18-29-year-olds who willingly embrace the evangelical label was about 22%. There\u2019s a statistically significant decline of about 4 percentage points from the data collected ten years prior. It\u2019s unmistakably true that evangelical self-identification has declined among the youngest adults.","og_url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/","og_site_name":"Church Answers","article_published_time":"2024-03-28T10:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-05-25T13:14:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-new-18.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Ryan Burge","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ryan Burge","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/"},"author":{"name":"Ryan Burge","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d5a336fe7fb2e2336148e844c396558a"},"headline":"Evangelicalism Is Not Dying Among Younger Generations (The Future May Not Be So Grim)","datePublished":"2024-03-28T10:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-25T13:14:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/"},"wordCount":1287,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-new-18.png","articleSection":["Church Answers","Grow","Health &amp; Metrics","Monday\/Wednesday Featured","Outreach &amp; Evangelism","Premium","Revitalize"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/","name":"Evangelicalism Is Not Dying Among Younger Generations (The Future May Not Be So Grim) | Church Answers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-new-18.png","datePublished":"2024-03-28T10:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-25T13:14:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d5a336fe7fb2e2336148e844c396558a"},"description":"It\u2019s helpful to start broadly\u2013what percentage of young people willingly identify as evangelical on surveys? The Cooperative Election Study has been asking that question since 2008. In those early waves, more than a quarter of 18-29-year-olds said that they were evangelical or born-again. That share was relatively consistent over the next five or six years. But the percentages began to slowly creep downward. By 2016, it was pretty clear that evangelicalism had dropped by two or three points among the youngest adults. However, there has been a much more abrupt decline in the last five years or so. Between 2018 and 2022, the share of 18-29-year-olds who willingly embrace the evangelical label was about 22%. There\u2019s a statistically significant decline of about 4 percentage points from the data collected ten years prior. It\u2019s unmistakably true that evangelical self-identification has declined among the youngest adults.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-new-18.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Blog-Article-Picture-new-18.png","width":1200,"height":628,"caption":"Evangelicalism Is Not Dying Among Younger Generations (The Future May Not Be So Grim)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/evangelicalism-is-not-dying-among-younger-generations-the-future-may-not-be-so-grim\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Evangelicalism Is Not Dying Among Younger Generations (The Future May Not Be So Grim)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/","name":"Church Answers","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d5a336fe7fb2e2336148e844c396558a","name":"Ryan Burge","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/56879a20cb590828ec05138ab0896cecf173024f2bf472bb1fb8dd0ad8f13fe0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/56879a20cb590828ec05138ab0896cecf173024f2bf472bb1fb8dd0ad8f13fe0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ryan Burge"},"description":"Dr. Ryan Burge is professor of practice at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. Before that he was an associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, and was also the graduate coordinator. He has authored over thirty peer-reviewed articles and book chapters alongside six books (including The Vanishing Church, The Nones, and The Great Dechurching) about religion and politics in the United States. He served as a pastor in the American Baptist Church for over twenty years, leading First Baptist Church of Mount Vernon, IL for 17.5 years until its closure in July 2024.","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/author\/ryanburge\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17635"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824068"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":825314,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824068\/revisions\/825314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}