As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
Reposted with permission from The Cripplegate.
by Eric Davis
Maybe you’ve heard it. “We can’t make it to church today, so we’ll just do church as a family.” “I can just do church on a hike this morning in God’s creation.” “The church is really the people, so we can do church wherever. God is everywhere, after all.”
Do we really need to go to a building on a certain day for it to count as doing church? If so, isn’t that legalistic?
“If you allow your children to stop going to church because they dislike it but insist they go to math class because it is good for them, those are “atheistic” priorities, according to Russell Moore.” CPost
“Barna has released a report on the first of a two-part exploration of faith and spirituality outside the church, looking at the ‘fascinating segment of the American population who, as the saying goes, love Jesus but not the church.’”
“Earlier this year, the Archbishop of Canterbury warned that the Church of England was battling to maintain its place in an increasingly ‘anti-Christian’ culture as attendances at services fell to their lowest ever levels.” LTelegraph
“A new survey suggests the logistics of going to services can be the biggest barrier to participation—and Americans’ faith in religious institutions is declining.” The Atlantic
“Podcasts have become such a phenomenon among Christians that some are starting to worry: If listeners can just download ‘church’ and partake on their own time, will they still feel the need to belong to an actual church?”
From Voice, May/June 2014. Used by permission.
One of the least obvious—and yet most tragic—changes that American Evangelicalism has experienced in the past fifty years is the diminishment of the centrality of the local church in the life of many Christians. The Lord’s Day, once considered a special day dedicated to the worship and service of God, is now treated like any other day by many professing believers. And local church life, once considered the center of indispensable relationships within our spiritual family whom we love, encourage, and to whom we remain accountable, is now treated like an extra-curricular activity rather than an essential ingredient of the Christian life.
The signs of the diminishing priority of the church are many. However, I will only mention the six trends that Kent Hughes highlights in his book Set Apart: Calling a Worldly Church to a Godly Life (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2003).
Hughes writes:
The hitchhiker’s thumb says, “You buy the car, pay for repairs and upkeep and insurance, fill the car with gas—and I’ll ride with you. But if you have an accident, you are on your own! And I’ll probably sue.” So it is with the credo of many of today’s church attendees: “You go to the meetings and serve on the boards and committees, you grapple with the issues and do the work of the church and pay the bills—and I’ll come along for the ride. But if things do not suit me, I’ll criticize and complain and probably bail out. My thumb is always out for a better ride.” (128)
“[W]hen one frequently attends a church that emphasizes faith-work integration, job satisfaction increases.” CT
Discussion