Now comes Russell Contreras of Axios to opine on “The Great Un-churching of America” (December 26, 2025), in which he reports that, among other things:
“The U.S. is undergoing its fastest religious shift in modern history, marked by a rapid increase in the religiously unaffiliated and numerous church closures nationwide.”
“Identity and reality are increasingly shaped by non-institutional and spiritual sources—YouTube mystics, TikTok, tarot, digital skeptics, folk saints, and AI-generated prayer bots.”
“Nearly three in 10 Americans today identify as religiously unaffiliated—a 33% jump since 2013, according to the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI).”
“About four in 10 Americans ages 18 to 29 identify as religiously unaffiliated (38%), an increase from 32% in 2013, PRRI said.”
“An unprecedented 15,000 churches are expected to shut their doors this year, far more than the few thousand expected to open, according to denominational reports and church consultants.”
At Bethlehem College and Seminary we’re standing sturdily athwart these reported sociological trends:
1. Students are arriving here—in record numbers—with Christian testimonies, eager to become church members.
2. Undergrads and seminarians draw their inspiration from the Bible and from ancient texts—real books—that they read and discuss with each other, in person.
3. Every year seminarians graduate and plant new churches.
4. Both college and seminary graduates leave here to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ—both here at home and to some of the darkest corners of the world.
5. Worship is “white hot” at Bethlehem, with strong affections in evidence for the Protestant Christian tradition that emphasizes the absolute sovereignty of God, the Bible’s sole authority, and the Calvinist doctrines of grace all inclined toward the happy Reformed view that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”
There may well be a re-set underway as regards American civil religion, but we can report that biblical Christianity is alive, well, and thriving at Bethlehem College and Seminary, by God’s grace and by virtue of your support for The Serious Joy Scholarship. Your Godward generosity permits our students to enjoy this in-person, on-campus, Bible-saturated, academically rigorous “Education in Serious Joy,” and then launch immediately into life and gospel ministry upon graduation—without federal student loan debt.
Our numbers may be small, but our impact for the gospel is disproportionate to our size. Your investments in these students avail much against the grain of the spirit of the age.
As 2025 comes to an end, won’t you consider making one more gift to The Serious Joy Scholarship that this little redoubt of Christian fidelity might continue to stand strong?
Rick Segal is Vice President of Advancement and Lecturer of History and Political Philosophy at Bethlehem College and Seminary.