I don’t know exactly. Like you and many others, I have opinions about it, though. Sure technology has a lot to do with it, the perception of Christianity has drastically declined for the much worse over the years due to the large number of false prophets who now fly private jets and live in Hollywood like mansions. As a college professor who has a doctorate degree in a the field of education, I can tell you that the methods of delivery of most church services are very dated making part of the decline in church attendance in America a methodological one.
Just because the Lord never changes (Malachi 3:6) doesn’t mean that the church shouldn’t change in delivery methods and reach to adapt to the changes in its audience. The church needs to innovate! Life is full of great examples about novelty in and out of the Bible… Isaiah did a new thing in his life as described in Isaiah 43:19, Paul was once Saul… we now work more than the Japanese proletariat yet we take less vacation than all other developed countries in the globe in America.
In the current state of affairs of our country, going to church fits the lifestyle of very old people who are retired and were educated under a completely set of societal technological circumstances and teaching methods very well — Long lecture with visuals which reminds some of us to an overhead projector lecture from the 1970’s, a time when none of our youth were alive.
I suspect that young adults ages 18-25 are also leaving the church because of how the gospel message is being shared in the church. Sure, we older people appreciate the parallels between the lessons and characters from the Bible and our daily lives because we know Bible stories are applicable to adulthood and a lot of us were educated in instructionism.
I honestly think that most young adults these days, now inundated with a wide variety of media stimuli and Hillsong music, not fans of being lectured could care less about the stories of Abimelech king of Gerar or Jael slayer of Sisera and how important their stories are for them. The modern church should have services where alternative teaching methods are used with and content that is more relatable to them.
Feel good new age music, like Bethel and others, aren’t based on sound doctrine. They are entertainment using the word of God for profit. Maybe church sermons should be like these blogs posts I wrote for you in here — Direct, applicable, and based in scripture; Lessons that are biblically sound, real life, and relevant to their young lives with a language that they understand.
It is time for change or the church establishment will be terminal within a generation. I don’t know… what are your thoughts blessings to you.