Should Christianity lessen its demands to attract more people?

Back when I was studying to get my master’s degree in theology, I did a deep dive into secularization theory, both in general, and specifically in the United States. There was one piece of information I came across that I found fascinating in the moment, and it has always stayed with me. Roger Finke, currently a sociologist at Pennsylvania State University, did research on the history of religion in the United States and detailed his findings in a chapter in a book titled Religion and Modernization: Sociologists and Historians Debate the Secularization Thesis. While reading his research I was reminded of how it is often remarked that religion and certain religious denominations can be unappealing to people, and young people in particular, because they are too demanding or dogmatic.  This is seen as repulsive to people and leads them away from religion.  Hence the rise of the many non-denominational churches and their culture of creating an ease of attending and even watching online to take away any barriers from not attending. 

However, what Roger Finke found when studying religion throughout the history of the US was the exact opposite.  Historically and currently, the denominations with the highest demands on their members are the ones that have and are growing the most. Finke notes that, “The growing churches are making strong demands on their members’ time, energy, and resources… these growing churches also place greater demands on what their members believe. Rather than accommodating to the accepted beliefs of the dominant culture or de-emphasizing the mythical beliefs of religion, these churches have rigid beliefs on what God demands of the faithful, and members offer frequent testimonial of how God intervenes in their lives… The denominations accommodating to modern thought are the very churches that are rapidly losing their membership, while the denominations that have resisted this process are showing rapid growth curves.”

I think there are several reasons why this is the case. First, God believes in us and calls us higher because he knows we are capable of it and he calls the best out of us. The denominations that are doing this are a more accurate reflection of God and his concern for us.  Second, the Gospels are abundantly clear on the high demands of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Attempts to make discipleship easier and more accessible to the masses is bound to be unfruitful because it is not what Jesus did.  Third, we see this idea everywhere else in society.  The best sports teams are the ones that have high demands.  They have many practices and intense workouts, and their culture is one of accountability.  They believe what they are striving for (ex. winning the championship) is a worthy goal and demands a high level of commitment.  If this is the case for winning sports championships, how much more for getting to heaven and building up the kingdom of God?

If Christianity is true then the only adequate response is a total yes, a life completely given over to Jesus Christ.  Think of how Christianity first exploded onto the scene.  It was because a small group of people so believed in it and lived it out that they were forced time and again to give up their life for it.  So should Christianity lessen its demands to attract more people?  Not only is this idea completely at odds with what Jesus teaches about being his disciple, it has absolutely no basis in history.  As Tertullian noted in the 2nd century, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”