Name: The Myth of Decline: Rethinking the Story of the Canadian Church
Start: 2026-12-10T09:00:00-0500
End: 2026-12-10T10:30:00-0500

Congregation and Religion Research Gathering 2026

The Myth of Decline: Rethinking the Story of the Canadian Church

Thursday December 10, 2026 9:00am - 10:30am EST

The dominant story of Christianity in Canada is one of decline: fewer people attending, churches closing, denominations shrinking, and religious influence fading. But what if that story is only partly true? Drawing on longitudinal data from Canadian congregations, this talk examines the difference between institutional decline and religious change. It explores church closures, consolidation, migration, congregational growth, changing denominational patterns, and the emergence of new forms of Christian community. Rather than asking simply whether Christianity is declining, the talk asks a more useful question: what exactly is declining, what is growing, and what is being transformed? The result is a more complicated picture of Canadian Christianity, one in which genuine decline exists alongside resilience, redistribution, demographic change, and significant pockets of growth. The challenge is not to replace a pessimistic narrative with an optimistic one, but to develop a more empirically accurate account of the changing Canadian church.

Speakers

Stephen Hewko

Director, Canadian Institute for Empirical Church Research, Wycliffe College

With backgrounds in the natural sciences and theology, Steve leads Wycliffe Colleges new Canadian Institute for Empirical Church Research. Steve has a passion for data-informed decision making and a keen interest in discovering some of the deeper contours and dynamics of the Canadian... Read More →

Thursday December 10, 2026 9:00am - 10:30am EST

Plenary

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Congregation and Religion Research Gathering

Stephen Hewko

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Congregation and Religion Research Gathering

Stephen Hewko

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