The Church in Crisis

Preliminary Note:

"Kingdom of God," it is used here in the same sense as found in the Lord’s Prayer and is understood as sovereign power, authority and rulership.

Let me begin by asserting that there is such a thing as collective sickness and it can take place within the context of churches. The Corinthian church was a sick church. Paul said so. Near the close of chapter 11, in his first letter he declares, many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

The Church in America is sick, it is unwell, unhealthy and in need of critical change and restoration. This needed change and resuscitation requires repentance because repentance results in spiritual transformation.

To believe that the church in American is healthy is to delude ourselves; the evidence of its state is all around us. The fierce winds of secularism have grown stronger with each passing year and vividly seen in the statistical growth of nonbelievers. Regardless of how optimistic we may be about the future of Christianity and the church, we cannot ignore the fact that the result of our nation’s secularizing has had a devastating impact upon the church. Studies continue to show that comparing the churched with the un-churched Americans, in a number of categories (cheating on taxes, fornication, exaggerating resumes etc.); there was little difference in the ethical views and behavior of the churched and un-churched. There are profound spiritual issues in the church that cannot be solved without coming to terms with the root causes in a repentant, holistic way.

The call to live in relationship and submission to the great King of the universe requires submission to His standards of righteousness. Unfortunately, the body of Christ has suffered the same kind of moral erosion as our worldly brothers and sisters. Somewhere along the path, Christians filed dissolution papers; commitment to the Kingdom has been violated, and we are now awaiting the final decree of divorce between Christian beliefs and Christian behaviors as seen in moral life and in public behavior. This fact alone gives us sufficient cause to reevaluate the authoritative claims of the Kingdom of God upon individuals and churches alike. In my mind, the greatest threat to Christianity in the 21st century is not in ritualism, dogma, or orthodoxy, but rather it is the disconnection between belief and behavior. Consistency in Christian lifestyle is no longer expected in the personal and corporate life of believers. This "oh well, what is -is" attitude is degrading to the Kingdom of God.

The startling statistics revealing the disconnection between Christian’s belief systems and practice, are pathetic to say the least. The effect of the Christian disconnect has had upon pastors, lay leaders, and the eyes of the watching world is alarming. Many view the church as an irrelevant and hypocritical institution.

The spiritual and moral decay of the lives of believers, the breakdown of marriage and family, and the lack of spiritual depth and growth among confessing Christians, have all reached depressing proportions. I have no doubt that many readers will agree that the life values of Christian youth and adults are often indistinguishable from the world’s life values. In survey after survey, the beliefs of Christians are largely the same as the beliefs of non-Christians.

Christianity, although curiously interesting to Americans, remains strangely incapable of influencing the lives of a large number of people. No matter how you look at the statistics, they all seem to point to the same conclusion: the American church exerts little influence on society. Despite the activities of thousands of congregations, the church in American is losing influence and members faster than any other major institution in this nation. George Barna, founder of the Barna Research Group, predicts one of two outcomes for the United States within the next few years: “either massive spiritual revival or total moral anarchy. It all depends on whether the church can rise to the occasion and respond to current trends.”

Many churches boast memberships of thousand and many others boast increasing memberships weekly. Nevertheless, the sad reality is that while many new faces may be joining, just as many, if not more, of the “churched” are quietly exiting. Members of churches, who leave, leave because of disillusionment. They are people for whom the faith has not proven to be as apparently claimed. Their souls deepest needs remain lacking. In his book, Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived the Church, Yancy laments how he spent most of his life in recovery from the church. All intelligent information regarding the moral state of the church point to a spiritual problem far deeper than surveys can reveal.

This Christian disconnection has also affected perception of the reality of God in the eyes of the unbelieving world. Clergy sex scandals, financial deception, power struggles, church splits, decreasing concern for racial and ethnic justice and social issues, have all resulted in a loss of credibility for the church within our society. This lack of consistency in holiness and sanctification has resulted in worldliness that has spiritually worn-out segments of truth seekers. It has caused them to dismiss the church as hypocritical institutions. The church is no longer the visible compass for how people are to live their daily lives.

The New Testament knows nothing of this disconnection between beliefs and behavior. Jesus warns that words or acts alone do not constitute a true relationship with Him. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' Matthew 7:22-23.

I certainly do not have all the answers. But I do know that the church needs reviving and regeneration. Only a recovery of the theological and spiritual roots of the Kingdom of God, a recovery that includes repentance, brokenness, and humility, can transform the lethargy of the church. I believe that when the church is regenerated and revived, the public perception of the church will change for the good. The call for theological and spiritual reflection and repentance is mandatory to eliminate the attitude that the Christian disconnect is acceptable within the life of individuals or the corporate behavior of churches.

References

Mark Shaw, Ten Great Ideas from Church History.

George Barna, Boiling Point: Monitoring Cultural Shifts in the 21st Century.

*Did You Know?

The largest Christian church in the world is in Seoul, South Korea.

The second largest Christian church in the world is in Leagers, Nigeria (a Moslem nation) while the largest Moslem training center in the world is in New York City, NY.

195 million Americans have no faith involvement at all in their lives which makes the U.S. the third largest unchurched nation following China and India.

Several thousand people die every day in the United States without ever having heard the good news of the Gospel.

The largest center for teaching Eastern Meditation Techniques exists in Fairfield, Iowa.

The world's largest Muslim training center is in New York City.

That less than one in ten people who make a decision to follow Jesus do so in the context of a church. Most people will enter into a relationship with Jesus by seeing His life and Kingdom lived out in the lives of family members or friends.

With its 195 million unchurched people, America has become the new mission field. America has more unchurched people than the entire populations of all but 11 of the world's 194 nations.

In the last ten years the combined membership of the Protestant denominations has declined 4.5 million while the population of our nation has increase by 24 million.

*From the Barna Research Group