This morning I was struck with a question. What can we do to reverse the decline of the Christian church in America? I believe revival is a work of the Holy Spirit. However, I also believe that people can actively seek and pursue revival. I'm talking about revival of a scale that will rank up there with the historical revivals since the birth of the church.
I posed this question to my friend Thom Schultz and he had a really insightful response. He's attending a church outreach convention and listening to church leaders talk amongst themselves. His observation is there's a lot of pride among pastors. They continue to pursue old and ineffective ways of doing church but think all is well. Essentially, they're the band on the deck of the Titanic playing away as the ship sinks (my comment not Thom's). Thom has lots of great thoughts on the decline of the church on his blog. You should check it out.
How would you answer the question? What can we do to reverse the decline of the Christian church in America? I know this, we can't keep doing what we've been doing unless we're content to watch the church slowly slip into the dark night of irrelevance in our country.
FINAL NOTE: This post is about the Christian church in America NOT Christians. Those who follow Christ will always be a vibrant, dynamic force in this world. The Church, that is the body of Christ, will always thrive, grow and change lives. Is the pride, arrogance and lethargy of the American church pushing the Church to some other place in the world? If it is, how do we bring about revival here?
1 comment:
I saw a very intersesting talk on TBN. This author spoke of revival. He said that we as Christians think that revival will happen overnight. He said historically it doesn't happen that way. It can take many years to happen, and it is always accompanied with war. No not always the shooting kind, but some kind of war. I beleive that we are in that revival (amongst His people)not the church. Just look at what our government is doing to us and our reaction. Most of us are revolvting...really funny I'm not revolting you are... anyway many people are turning to their God to help in this time of crisis. That's the way it has always been and that's the way I beleive that He designed it, after a couplke of nakked children couldn't obey one simple rule. PEACE
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