Ed Stetzer has been following and predicting church trends for many years. He sees a number of church trends that all of us should consider.

His first trend is that the word “Christian” will become less frequently used and that will also make the term clearer. Part of the problem is that three-fourths of Americans call themselves Christians. The term obviously means different things to different people.

Ed Stetzer describes three categories of people who call themselves Christians. Cultural Christians say they are Christians because they aren’t atheist or another religion. Congregational Christians have had some loose connection with church (baptism, wedding). Convictional Christians are those who identify themselves as Christians because they orient their life around their faith in Christ. The first two groups are more likely to stop calling themselves Christians, leaving the last group who use it in a more meaningful way.

Another trend he predicts is that “the nominal will increasingly become the nones.” Let’s go back to the categories we just mentioned. The Cultural Christians are more likely to move away from the Christian faith since they aren’t really committed and will be significantly influenced by the culture rather than by biblical principles. And the Congregational Christians are nominal in the sense that they are only casually involved with a church and body of believers.

These two groups of nominal Christians will probably be more influenced by the secularism of the culture. Certainly their children will be affected by the secular culture. Apart from a profound born-again experience, these nominal Christians are likely to become one of the nones. The nones are people who say they have no religious preference.

These two trends remind us that the world around us is changing and that nominal Christians are changing with it. It is call for us to make sure of our commitment to Christ. We should not be conformed to the world and we should avoid being taken captive by the culture.