MIDDLEBURG – Beulah Missionary Baptist Church opened its doors in 1850. Sitting on State Road 21, it served residents of Green Cove Springs and Middleburg and, later, military folks who were staying at Camp Blanding.

Last year, Beulah Baptist closed its doors.

In recent times, the church founded before the Civil War saw its membership and donations steadily dwindle. Eventually, it couldn’t afford to keep on the lights.

“They were having trouble for years,” said. Rev. Bobby Lewis, senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Middleburg.

Beulah’s rural location didn’t help, as residents of Keystone Heights, Middleburg and more densely populated areas of Green Cove Springs found other places to worship. But that wasn’t the only factor in Beulah’s demise.

Many churches in Clay County – and, in fact, across the nation – are struggling to stay afloat. Many have shut down.

Less than 20 percent of Americans attend church, according to recent Gallup polling, and that number has been going down for the past two decades.

A Pew Research Center study found that in 2014, two-thirds of Americans identified as Christian – a nearly 10 point drop from 2007. During that same span, the percentage of Americans who identified as unaffiliated – agnostic, atheist or nothing in particular – rose nearly 10 points to 25 percent.

A few churches, like Beulah, despite closing, have found new life. Beulah Baptist reached out to First Baptist of Middleburg last May, seeking some help, and First Baptist of Middleburg ended up absorbing Beulah’s congregation.

This sort of practice has become increasingly prevalent in recent years, with larger churches often turning the struggling institution into a “satellite church.” Also becoming more common is church “rehabilitation,” in which a larger church lends its expertise and resources to help a smaller church recover from tough times.

First Baptist of Middleburg, which has about 3,600 members, didn’t turn Beulah into a satellite location, but it does use the Beulah buildings for other ministry functions, such as adult outreach events and camp events for junior-high kids.

“The fortunate thing about Beulah is that even though they were having a tough time, they didn’t have debt, so we were able to take them in,” Lewis said. “A lot of churches are debt-ridden, so they can’t reach beyond themselves and receive help.”

Lewis believes many churches, though not necessarily Beulah, have lost sight of their purpose. He believes it weighs heavily into why churches fallen on hard times.

“I’ve seen lots of the statistics, and there are many reasons for the declines in membership and attendance,” he said. “There are theological reasons, cultural reasons and other factors, but let’s just be honest: the church has not always done a good job of expressing God’s love and making people feel welcome.

“Also, you have to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. Some people who profess to be Christians will go out to a restaurant and bow their heads and pray before their meal, but then they behave in ugly ways toward their server. People get turned off and they think, ‘If that’s what it means to be a Christian, I don’t want any part of it.’”

Rev. Heather Harding of Fleming Island United Methodist Church echoed many of Lewis’ sentiments. FIUMC has a congregation of a few hundred, which is much smaller than First Baptist, but it is thriving.

“Churches have become more inner-oriented organizations and forgotten about their walk, about outreach,” she said. “Jesus called for us to go out into the world.

“I think another problem is that we have linked religion and faith to politics. And that’s not really an accurate thing to do, because people of all political persuasions are Christians. Not one particular political party has a monopoly on faith.”

Lewis emphasized a need for outreach as well, as opposed to “in-reach,” in which the culture of certain churches become self-contained. At First Baptist of Middleburg, outreach includes online engagement. The church’s website offers streaming videos of its worship services.

He said that some of the churches he has seen struggle most are those that teach loose interpretations of the Bible, in which Jesus “isn’t the only way,” but he also warned against dogma.

“The opposite extreme of that type of evangelism is beating people over the head with the Bible,” Lewis said. “I share my beliefs with others, but I’m not going to force my beliefs on anybody. Forced Christianity is not Biblical.”

He added that Christians should respect people of all faiths, as well as people who are atheists or agnostics, even if they disagree with them.

“I actually think the declines in attendance are kind of a gift to the church, because it’s a wake-up call to do what Jesus meant for us to do,” Harding said. “So many people feel like they’re not accepted by the church, whether because of their race, marital status, or socio-economic conditions. Many churches have shunned LGBTQ people.

“We want to be welcoming. We welcome everyone to share in God’s love.”

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Email Christiaan DeFranco at chris@opcfla.com. Follow him on Twitter @cdefranco.