“The End of Christian America”
2009 April 15
“Christians are now making up a declining percentage of the American population.”
To read more, check out this article (“The End of Christian America“) in Newsweek. This helps explain why I want to use some years for this project with Landon Saunders — to try to reach people 18-29 years old with the good news.
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Today I’m teaching the book of James. As I read it again this morning, I’m struck by how he refuses to let faith be just a profession or a position. Faith in Jesus is a way of life!
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Maybe you saw my AI picks on a Tweet: 1. Adam . . . 2. Allison . . . 3. Danny. What do you think?
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1. Danny…2. Adam…3. Allison.
I’ll be praying for your new ministry with Landon Saunders. Make a difference.
Greg Boyd has a great post about the recent interest in the decline of American Christianity.
http://www.gregboyd.org/blog/dont-weep-for-the-demise-of-american-christianity/
There seems to be a tie-in with your first two notes. Could it be that the decline in Christianity is because it hasn’t been a James-style faith? Could it be that all the screaming, condemning, professing, and political moves isn’t the same as taking care of the fatherless and the widows?
Please not Adam. ANYONE but Adam.
My preferences:
1. Danny 2. Kris 3. Allison
Reality Check:
1. Danny 2. Adam 3. ?
Personally, I worry about the Christian brand. Many thoughtful Christians no longer want to be associated with the label “Christian.” I think, Mike, you’ll find the Christian brand to be toxic among the young people you intend to target.
Given that situation, I wonder how to go forward. How to claim to be a follower of Jesus while simultaneously distancing oneself from what passes as “Christian” in today’s world?
Please not Danny.
1. Adam 2. Kris 3. Anoop
Adam was a favorite when it all started, but lately he comes off as an Axel Rose wanna be.
1) Danny, and the next 2 have gotten better every week.
2) Kris
3) Anoop
Hey Mike….can’t help but wonder if your blog about the end of xianity has anything to do with your recent debut for great hymns of the past
. Great to see you on the blog. would love to add your link to my blog at http://www.terrybell.wordpress.com. Will that be okay with you?
What? No Kris? Adam is freaky… Ick! Agree with Jennifer on that one…
On your Twitter about what to perach for the last 8 weeks? I think you answered it: Faith in Jesus as the way of life from James…
JMac
I only have the energy for an Idol comment today, so here is my take…. Adam is a bit creepy in his performances, but comes off very normal otherwise. He is ridiculously talented. This was my baseball comparison after the show last night (we’d just come in from a little league game!!!!)–
Adam = Albert Pujols
the rest of the contestants = tee ball
Like him or not, Adam is miles ahead of the rest of the pack. That being said, I REALLY like Danny and Kris!
Fun Kris fact– he is from the tiny town I lived in in Arkansas– CONWAY! Crazy! He also is on a praise team at a church there. That’s pretty neat!
Christianity will grow like wildfire when we finally become a true minority, there’s some persecution going around, and Dr. Dobson and Hannity have been retired to the screaming right pastureland – not necessarily in that order.
I disagree.
Yes christianity may be on the decline in some cities but I believe God is bringing a revival of His Holy Spirit to America.
People are still seeking.
Churches are growing.
Churches are becoming families and communities that are meeting peoples needs.
I believe the 21st century will be a century of tremendous growth!
It has been my personal preference not to be called or named “a Christian,” preferring to be known as a Believer in and follower of Jesus. After all, it wasn’t until Antioch that Believers were called Christians. I prefer Believers.
I like believer. I also like Christian.
I do think that we’re headed towards a time when we won’t be able to worship publically and that is when Christianity will see the most growth!
Thanks in part to the internet (rational thought sites, world religion information), scientific advancement (dinosaurs not mentioned in the Bible, neanderthal man predating Adam and Eve), racial tolerance (slavery was sanctioned in the Bible), and a more culturally diverse America, we are living in an age of enlightenment in which it is getting harder and harder to believe in talking snakes, a 6,000-10,000-year-old Earth, and eternal hellfire for trillions upon trillions of people, the latter predicated on something as morally nebulous as “belief.”
There are wonderful tenets of Christianity–love others, living morally, helping the poor–but the supernatural elements surrounding it, especially the notion of a perfect God creating a plan that would result in a vast number of people suffering eternally, are getting tougher to swallow.
Brett – That difficulty is seen daily on a small Faith Board I frequent. Where the greatest inroads have been made for Jesus in that respect has been when we shift the center focus from the trillions you mention to the one God. Is He truly just? Is He trustworthy especially when it comes to keeping His word? Is His justice without bias, even handed for everyone? Are we to love Him so much we can only worship and seek to please Him? We try to emphasize God – our absolute surrender in love and adoration for Him, as well as His love for us, rather than constant concern for ‘are we or they saved?’ Can we trust Him enough to know He will be truly loving, be just in His judgment and rewards for all mankind?
but it is what those that have come to us on the board have responded deeply to about God and their relationship with Him and those around them daily.
We’ve come to the wonderful conclusion that our God is a loving God and a just one. He will do the judging, we don’t have to. We DO have to be concerned where we stand in our love for Him and have we become so immersed in Him that we can preach Him, sometimes even without words, as one wise writer has mentioned?
In other words, we’ve switched the emphasis off of our own judgment of God and are dedicated to loving Him and sharing that love with others.
These ideas may be a bit too simple for the more erudite,
Kathy-To “shift the center focus away from the trillions” burning in hell forever is a fancy way to admit being in denial about (or at least safely ignoring) the abject horror of that scenario. It’s also a way to compartmentalize your rational mind and your faith, where they can coexist in the same brain peacefully. If that helps you sleep at night, go for it.
Adam and Danny are tied in my mind right now — both are amazing in their own ways! And, you can’t deny that Allison is great as well!