MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN STARTS WITH REFORMING THE CHURCH
PART 3 in the series - "Three Things That Will Turn America Around"
Christianity in America is in dire need of reform. When elementary age travel ball teams require more commitment from their participants than most churches, you know we have a problem. If you come late to a travel ball game, don’t expect to play. If you come late to more than one game, don’t expect to stay on the team. If you fail to pay your dues in travel ball, literally through fees and figuratively through practices, then you won’t be on the team. Contrast that commitment with that of church goers. In churches, coming late is perfectly acceptable. As a matter of fact, at church, not coming at all is acceptable. In most churches, roughly 30% of the people on membership roles never attend. Not even for Christmas or Easter. American church statistics indicate that 50% of the members of any given church give nothing at all to the church in a given year. Zero. Nada. Nothing. Not one penny. Yet, those people would be completely offended if it was suggested that they shouldn’t be on the membership roles. Name one organization that requires absolutely nothing from it’s members and still succeeds. It doesn’t exist. It’s not possible. So, how did the American church get in this predicament?
The American Church is in a sad state because its overarching theology asks nothing of people except to “accept Jesus.” Evangelicalism, which developed out of the Great Awakenings in America during the 18th and 19th centuries, dominates the American religious landscape. The core of evangelical theology is the “decision for Christ” event. There’s no doubt that making a decision to accept God’s offer of salvation through Christ is biblical. Yet, the invitation void of any ongoing commitment to discipleship fails to meet the biblical definition of evangelism. In trying to remove any barriers to a person accepting Christ, evangelicalism has essentially removed the notion of discipleship and regeneration through the power of the Holy Spirit. In short, we have removed the notion of commitment by sharing an unreformed theology, leading to unreformed people, leading to unreformed churches.
In his book, Spiritual Disciplines, Donald Whitney tells this story about the beginning of the Pony Express. He cites the an early recruitment ad that appeared in a San Francisco newspaper in March 1860.”
“Wanted — young, skinny, wiry fellows not over 18. Must be expert riders willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.”
Can you imagine an ad like that appearing on social media today? People would be shocked. Unlike Americans in the 1860’s, we are adverse to risk and hardship, and we view 17-year-olds as kids. After citing the ad, Whitney writes this, “the Pony Express never suffered a shortage of riders.” Wow! Despite the dangers — regardless of the solo rides through Indian Territory — and in the face of extreme hardship, there was a waiting list of young men ready to work for the Pony Express. Why is that? Because people, especially young men, love challenges.
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