The Reformation Report - Edition 1
January 2026
The Reformation Report delivers clear insight into what’s shifting in the Church. Grounded in data and sharpened by discernment, it tracks emerging trends through a Kingdom reformation lens—so leaders can recognize the times, align with what God is doing, and respond with clarity and courage.
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Welcome to the January 2026 edition of The Reformation Report
Why 15,000 Churches Just Closed—And Why That Might Be Good News
The headlines are sobering. An estimated 15,000 churches across the United States will close their doors in 2025—the highest number on record. For many, this signals crisis. For others, it signals something else entirely: the painful but necessary pruning that precedes new growth.
I want to suggest a third way of reading these numbers. Not denial. Not despair. But discernment.
As someone who has spent decades in apostolic ministry, I’ve learned that God’s economy often looks backwards to human eyes. What appears to be loss frequently becomes the seedbed for something greater. The question isn’t whether change is coming—it’s whether we’ll participate in what God is building or exhaust ourselves propping up what He’s allowing to fall.
What the Numbers Actually Tell Us
Thom Rainer, former president of LifeWay Christian Resources, describes these closing congregations as churches that “hung on for years but are now, five years after COVID, finally unable to remain open.” That phrase—”hung on”—is telling.
Many of these congregations have been in decline for decades. They’re not closing because something suddenly went wrong. They’re closing because something went wrong a long time ago, and the artificial life support of habit, tradition, and demographic momentum finally gave out.
