The Church Could Help Christians to Follow Jesus
5.1.23 The church could help Christians follow Jesus.
There is so much evidence today that the church is failing in America. Membership and attendance has been falling for years. And the church has become so much more identified with being American than with being Christian. Here is what George Barna, a researcher into the intersection of church and state, writes:
“Our research shows that local churches have virtually no influence in our culture. The seven dominant spheres of influence are movies, music, television, books, the Internet, law, and family. The second tier of influencers is comprised of entities such as schools, peers, newspapers, radio, and businesses. The local church appears among entities that have little or no influence on society.”[1]
I’m sure there are many reasons why people are leaving the church. Here are some ideas of how the churches in America could recommit to the teachings of Jesus—all of them.
Tuesday
#1 It could be preaching the totality of Jesus’s message, that is, a combination of two principles in the Book of Matthew: 1) the Great Commission: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you (Matthew 28:19-20)” and 2)the central teaching of the Parable of the Sheep and Goats: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me (Matthew 25:35-36, 40).”
#2 The church could be connecting people to Jesus Christ Himself instead of to this church through teaching a variety of prayer techniques beyond the Lord’s Prayer and the individual petitions for what we want in our lives and in the lives of those closest to us. It could teach Centering Prayer, keeping a daily gratitude journal, and doing Lectio Divina.[2] If we faithfully follow these as we are called to participate in them, we would be learning how to live in the presence of God. The church could teach us that the way we live our lives can be our prayer to God.
Wednesday
#3 The church has concentrated on individual sin and ignored the corporate/national sins of our country: racism, lack of medical care for the poorer populations, lack of living wages for the lower castes of our society, lack of access to affordable housing. After all, every human being is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). American society, along with Christians, has long venerated the truly successful and the rich; we ignore the needs of the poor. The church has become only a charitable institution rather than one that cares about mercy and justice: “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).”
#4 The church could help our country understand just what the poorer people and the homeless in this country could show us to improve how we help and treat each other. It could be the mediator between the policies and economy of our country and the poor themselves. The church could show our country how to help the poor, the needy, the hungry and thirsty, the sick, the prisoners and the outcasts. After all, Jesus started His ministry quoting this passage from Isaiah 61:1-2:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Thursday
#5 The church could show the congregation how the world oppresses us, how our culture has directed our lives away from what the Bible and what Jesus taught. Here is George Barna again: “Let me also point out that a major reason why most local churches have little influence on the world is that their congregants do not experience this transformation in identity. Our research indicates that churchgoers are more likely to see themselves as Americans, consumers, professionals, parents, and unique individuals than zealous disciples of Jesus Christ.”[3] It could teach us how to live in the anxious, fearful, and very material world in peace and joy and love, along with the other fruit of the Spirit: patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and humility (Galatians 5:22-23).
So many churches have just been trying for a successful congregation by the numbers—members and their tithes–without any faith that in teaching God’s Word, that God would provide all that the church needs to thrive.
Questions to ponder over the week: What has my church taught me about living the live that Jesus invites to in following Him? Has it supported my spiritual needs, whether I need to know how to do with fear, with grief, with trauma, with the culture, with anything that stands between me and God?
Blessing for the week: May we be the people of God whose church supports all our spiritual needs, who trains and invites us into the full life of following Jesus.
Check out my two websites: patsaidadams.com and deepeningyourfaith.com.
Two Announcements
- I am giving away a 10-week journaling guide to Jesus’s Two Great Commandments. If you are interested, email me at patsadams@gmail.com and I will email it to you, free of charge.
- My latest books, “Called to Help the Poor and Needy” and “A Study Guide to the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount” are now in bookstores and on line. The first is about the more than 2,000 verses in the Bible which detail God’s instructions for caring for those in need. The second is a journaling/pondering guide to Jesus’s most complete sermon.
[1] George Barna, Revolution: Worn-out on Chruch? Finding Vibrant Faith Beyond the Walls of the Sanctuary, (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Momentum, 2005), p. 118
[2] A way of reading short passages in the Bible to see what word or phrase the Holy Spirit is highlighting for us, then pondering the meaning of the word or phrase.
[3] Ibid, p. 87-88