Posted on 03/11/2009 6:47:32 AM PDT by raynearhood
We are on the verge within 10 years of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West.
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Why is this going to happen?
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2. We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. Ironically, the billions of dollars we've spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it. Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community. Coming generations of Christians are going to be monumentally ignorant and unprepared for culture-wide pressures.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
If you doubt me, read up on the National Council of Churches.
With all due respect, if the NCC is your sole benchmark, you are sadly mistaken. I believe the Orthodox Church recently left the NCC, since their whole purpose for having joined (to be a witness to the true faith and unify the Christian Church) was unsuccessful. I believe they are also soon to leave the WCC.
To claim, for instance that these Orthodox jurisdictions are “left wing organizations” is not fair, and show that you’ve probably never been in one for divine liturgy. The Orthodox Church has withstood 2000 years of heresies and upheaval, holding fast to Christ. For a historically speaking “recently-formed” Protestant or evangelical church to blast them, is to blast the memory of the Christian martyrs, upon whose faith and witness your “recent” church stands. And I’m a Lutheran stating this! I find it unwise to blast fellow Christians on an open forum. What kind of witness is that?
I think he's wrong on this point(s) because.....I don't agree with his all solutions or predicted outcomes. If your looking for me defend the author's take on things, the Christian Science monitor, or the guys blog, don't, because it isn't happening.
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I agree with his assessment about....
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If he's right about the failing Evangelical movement, then such and such could be done.
OR
Has anybody whose an established Evangelical leader (preacher, theologian) wrote something about this?
World-renowned pollster George Barna has the numbers, and they indicate a revolution is already taking place within the Church - one that will impact every believer in America. Committed, born-again Christians are exiting the established church in massive numbers.(*Disclaimer: I haven't read the book, but have read/been involved in discussion spurred by the books topic of an "Evangelical Exodus").
Religious attendance fell from 41% in 1971 to 31% in 2002, according to a survey sponsored by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. For years, Gallup polls have shown church attendance hovering around 43 percwent of the population, which would mean 129 million out of an estimated 300 million Americans at the end of 2006. However, two 2005 studies, one by sociologists C. Kirk Hadaway and Penny Long Marler and the other by Dave Olson, a researcher for the Evangelical Covenant Church, show that a more accurate attendance percentage is in the 18th to 20th percentile...I disagree with some of her opinions about the causes and solution, but I quote the book to illustrate that the problem is percieved.
Ping
I believe young people are tired of religiosity and want Bible based Spirit filled relationship gathering together of Christians who don't worry about big buildings and fancy clothes but Christians who get in the dirt and do something for the Kingdom.
Christian Science Monitor writing about...... Christians???
Right!
The author isn’t a Christian Scientist, the Monitor ran a summary of a series that Spencer did on his blog.
(And of course, we know the Monitor has no editorial or publishing agenda, eh?)
The National Council of Churches is pure evil. There is nothing good about them. I am sure there are plenty of good ignorant Christians sitting in the pews but that does not change the fact that the hierarchies of their churches are in bed with socialists/communists and working against the best interest of what any conservative would want.
If I am correct the Antiochian Orthodox church has left the NCC and I say good for them. Any other church who truly cares about the true word of God and advancing the kingdom of Christ will follow the Antiochian church and leave.
I am back in the Methodist church now due to various reasons. I can assure you the Orthodox Church is very conservative.
Oddly the Methodist, at least in the south, seem to be bucking the liberalization trend finally. I thought my conservative feelings would be a bit out of place but they haven't been and one can see there is growing frustration over what the "Methodist Church" does vs how many in local churches feel.
When I get back home, I'll probably post what I sent him.
(Currently running my battery down at a hopeful political event .)
, called NetMonk or some such. Hes Catholic.
No he's not, not unless stuff's changed quite a bit since I last payed a great deal of attention to him. Last I knew, he was a house church kind-a guy.
So many messages, so little battery.
AMEN!!
But we ALSO have a lot of OLDER Christians that are in the same boat; but they are complaining about the 'music'!
Some see the glass half empty others see it half full.
I remember another thread where Baptist missionaries have been planting fundamentalist churches in Vermont where The Gospel is preached. These churches are growing. IOW, when The Gospel is preached "itching ears" will come. The end of the marketing age in the church will not mean the end of the church.
Internet Monk. Ancient Church. Orthodoxy. Speaking of Protestant as “other.”
You appear to know much better than I, where Michael Spenser has been, but it’s fairly clear where he’s heading.
Spoken like a true fundamentalist. He may even -- horrors -- baptize babies.
You speak of fundamentalism as if it is a bad thing. What Biblical fundamental do you find ... what, in poor taste or something? Bad?
Involuntary baptism of infants is pointless symbolism, just as baptizing the dead is pointless symbolism. Baptism itself, however, is anything but.
So we may see smaller numbers, but the numbers will be more accurate.
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