Bryan Chapell Diagnoses Our Generational Crisis in the Church

Statement from Bryan Chapell:

With deep regret for harm done to others, I am issuing a public apology for not taking proper care to protect the reputation of others. In an unplanned moment on a recent video podcast posted by The Gospel Coalition, I held up a small piece of paper that I believed was not readable but included names of individuals. TGC personnel who prepared the video also thought that nothing was legible on the paper. However, there are now those who have taken a screen shot of the video and enlarged it to identify some names. I sincerely apologize.

Advertise on TGC

Statement from Collin Hansen:

This podcast has been removed. I couldn’t read the names over video and did not check during editing to review the list. I apologize for neglecting that review.

Across the United States, we see a generational crisis in our churches. Older and younger Christians often don’t understand each other and their differing priorities and perspectives. It’s understandable, since in only one generation, our culture has dropped from 90 percent identifying as Christian to less than half belonging to a church and only 3 percent participating in weekly worship.

Bryan Chapell has written a new book, The Multigenerational Church Crisis: Why We Don’t Understand Each Other and How to Unite in Mission, that demonstrates remarkable breadth and depth of understanding of these issues. Published by Baker, The Multigenerational Church Crisis sketches a way forward that can keep the church on mission during our turbulent times.

Bryan is the president of Unlimited Grace Media. He’s a Council member of The Gospel Coalition and also leads the administrative committee of the Presbyterian Church in America. Bryan has seen how monogenerational churches die with the generation that dominates them. And he wants our churches to maintain faithfulness across many generations. That’s hard to do today when so many evangelicals feel a sense of cultural loss and direct their anger toward fellow Christians they fault for failing to resist liberalism and secularism with sufficient zeal.

Bryan joined me on Gospelbound to discuss the causes and solutions for the multigenerational church crisis.

Join The Keller Center mailing list

The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics helps Christians share the truth, goodness, and beauty of the gospel as the only hope that fulfills our deepest longings. We want to train Christians—everyone from pastors to parents to professors—to boldly share the good news of Jesus Christ in a way that clearly communicates to this secular age.

Click the button below to sign up for updates and announcements from The Keller Center.

Join the mailing list »

Collin Hansen serves as vice president for content and editor in chief of The Gospel Coalition, as well as executive director of The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. He hosts the Gospelbound podcast, writes the weekly Unseen Things newsletter, and has written and contributed to many books, including Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation and Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ Is Essential. He has published with the New York Times and the Washington Post and offered commentary for CNN, Fox News, NPR, BBC, ABC News, and PBS NewsHour. He edited the forthcoming The Gospel After Christendom and The New City Catechism Devotional, among other books. He is an adjunct professor at Beeson Divinity School, where he also co-chairs the advisory board.

Bryan Chapell (MDiv, Covenant Theological Seminary; PhD, Southern Illinois University Carbondale) is a founding Council member of The Gospel Coalition, pastor emeritus of the historic Grace Presbyterian Church and president emeritus of Covenant Theological Seminary. His preaching and teaching are broadcast in many nations through Unlimited Grace Media. Bryan is the author of many books, including The Multigenerational Church Crisis, Christ-Centered Preaching, and The Hardest Sermons You’ll Ever Have to Preach. He and his wife, Kathy, have four adult children and a growing number of grandchildren.