Professor Scott Thumma, who directs the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, was a key source of information for the first in a series about church closings in Minnesota.

The series in the Minnapolis Star Tribune is called Test of Faith: The Unchurching of America. Professor Thumma’s comments were included in the article, As Churches Close, a Way of Life Fades.

“It’s just a matter of time before many congregations won’t exist,” he told the newspaper. “In the next 20 years, you’ll have half as many open congregations as now. It could be more devastating for certain denominations.”