The American Church at a Crossroads

It may seem strange to say this, especially on the Monday after Easter, but Christians and the church in America stand at the proverbial fork in the road. For many, the last few months have felt like we are slowly getting back to normal. However, inside the Christian community, things are not normal. In 2020 it seemed like the most significant disruption to church and the growth of Christianity would be lockdowns, social distancing, and capacity restrictions. While the pandemic continues to disrupt communities and create challenges, in 2021, most of the difficulties Christians face are coming from inside the church. Recent revelations of sexual abuse scandals with well-known author and apologist Ravi Zacharias and the new reporting of old sexual abuse at Kanakuk Camps have disheartened many, and they should. It should go without saying that sexual abuse is an insult to almighty God, especially when that abuse is done under the guise of “spiritual” help. Add to these recent days a Gallup report that shows the dangerous decline of church membership in the United States. They noted that in 2020 church membership in a synagogue, church, or mosque was down to 47%.

The temptation that most Christians, myself included, in this cultural moment is to attribute the moment to the rising tide of secularism and some bad apples in the community of Christians in the West. While there is increasing cultural opposition to Christianity, that opposition is fueled by both the harm of the church and what Romans 1 refers to as man’s ongoing nature to suppress the truth about God. We can no longer call this moment an either/or when it clearly is a both/and movement. So what are Christians and the church to do in the West? Do we merely lament the status of the church and blame it for where we are? No. Do we get louder about the rising cultural opposition while ignoring the mess in our own backyard? No. What is necessary for Christians and the church to do is take ownership of their faults while simultaneously getting back to some basic principles.

Value People Over Power/Success

One of the most dangerous moments that happens inside of Christian movements is when they gain power. Be it spiritual or cultural power, they both bring about dangerous temptations. The temptation is to use the control to exploit people to continue to exercise your power or influence or the image of success that you have. It’s honestly not a new problem. It’s one that Jesus himself warned the disciples about:

25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus is clear that for you and me as Christians, we should be looking to serve people and model Christlikeness. What is Christlikeness? Servant leadership. Laying down yourself at the expense of others. It means that I functionally care more about people and their status with Christ than I care about how they can benefit me. This means that when we see leadership abuses, we don’t excuse them because they are “spiritually” gifted or successful. One of the fundamental errors that the church in America has adopted is, the ends justify the means. Sure many would not be so crass as to articulate this, but how many more people have to be abused for us to recognize that “gifting” and “talent” are not excuses to do whatever you want?

Love the Church, Warts and All

If we are careful to love people and we recognize that the church is the gathering of God’s people, then we will work to restore our local churches as outposts of Gospel light even if it is hard work. While I am sure that there are several reasons why church membership is on the decline, and we could do a series of articles on those reasons alone, there has to be some immediate application to why we are in the place we are.

Could we see a decline in church membership because we have conditioned people to believe that church is all about them or because we have created a climate in which it’s easier to critique everything but ourselves? Consider the following passage from 1 Corinthians 12:

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

If we recovered this understanding of the church body, we would recognize that everyone plays an essential role in the life of the church body. So when we devalue our responsibility to the church because of our desires, we hurt ourselves and those gathered with us.

This does not mean that the church is above critique or change or both. Consider the Reformation principle of semper reformada or always reforming. There is a real sense in which sometimes churches feel like they are above critique or change. However, when we read the New Testament, we see churches being corrected and changing all the time. If the church at Galatia needed to be reminded of the Gospel or the church at Corinth had to deal with members sinning, we shouldn’t think that we are above being corrected.

Conclusion

It may seem flippant to say that the church and Christians in America sit at a crossroads. It may seem like a hot take to say that we need to look internally at ourselves and see if we need to make corrections. Neither of these are my goals but as the rising opposition to Christianity gets stronger and stronger, we need to make sure that our churches are actual places of refuge and not more opportunities for harm.