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Two past guests on Deep Talks return to have a joint conversation about some of the deeper reasons for the decline of church attendance & Christian affiliation in America.  Glenn Packiam and Andrew Root have recently released books exploring some of the deeper philosophical forces at work in American culture that have contributed to the decline of church attendance, pastor burn-out, and the loss of vision and mission for many Christians particularly in Evangelical & Mainline Protestant contexts.

What can we learn from this? Is there any reason for hope?

Rev. Dr. Glenn Packiam (Doctor of Theology and Ministry, Durham University) is associate senior pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, and lead pastor of one of its eight congregations, New Life Downtown. A Senior Fellow at Barna Group, a visiting fellow at St. John’s College at Durham University, and an adjunct professor at Denver Seminary, Glenn is the author of several books, including The Resilient Pastor, Blessed Broken Given, and Worship and the World to Come. He is also an ordained priest with the Anglican Church of North America.

For Glenn's new book "The Resilient Pastor: Leading Your Church in Rapidly Changing World":

Andrew Root (Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary)is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, USA. He writes and researches in areas of theology, ministry, culture and younger generations.  His most recent books are Churches and the Crisis of Decline (Baker, 2022), The Congregation in a Secular Age (Baker, 2021), The End of Youth Ministry? (Baker, 2020), The Pastor in a Secular Age: Ministry to People Who No Longer Need God (Baker, 2019), Faith Formation in a Secular Age (Baker, 2017), and Exploding Stars, Dead Dinosaurs, and Zombies: Youth Ministry in the Age of Science (Fortress Press, 2018).

For Andy's new book "Churches and the Crisis of Decline : A Hopeful, Practical Ecclesiology for a Secular Age":

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