I was reading a book this morning and I won’t reference it because that is not the purpose of this blog but in it there was a chapter that discussed the danger of modernity in the church. It went on to whine about the same old stuff about a lack of theology and too much focus on leadership and what not but there was a line that tweaked me. “When are we going to take America back for Christ?” Those statements annoy anger me to the point of sin. There are two main problems with that statement.
Problem 1) It completely discounts the amazing work being done by the church today. Just because your grandfathers church is dying doesn’t mean that Christianity in America is dying. There are many churches doing amazing work, preaching the gospel, seeing people get saved, growing in the word and leaving their churches to do new work! Elevation, Newspring, and others are getting it done on the big stage and then there is a little church here in Columbus feeding the homeless and caring for the least of these every week. The kingdom of God is advancing and rather retreat to the memories of yesteryear get involved.
Problem 2) To what time in American history do you really want to go? Do we go all the way back when the puritans in their religious passion falsely burned hundreds out of fear. Do we go back a hundred years to the days where the church was the main hub for KKK and posted signs for decades saying that there was NO integration in the church. Maybe we go back a few decades when politics in the denominations ran so deep that it split families. Because if you weren’t Baptist then you weren’t a Christian. When exactly did America have it’s finger on the pulse of God. There were days when sin wasn’t so public but it was there. Kids were drinking, having sex and partying in the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s 50’s, 60’s (mercy the 60’s), 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and today!
So, excuse the rant but let’s not focus on what we would like to go back to and focus on what God has in store for this incredible new era. An era with more ways than ever to proclaim the good news. An era that allows truth to be absorbed by a generation that longs for it as long as we don’t cloak it with religiosity. Let’s get to work.
Sean Rheaume 