The look of? Will nuns, those who do not claim religion when questioned by investigators, be good for some churches?This is the attitude of many historic churches whose ranks have been most affected by the deertions and may even have a discussion.
Among the main historical denominations of the United States of America [i] are the Episcopal Church, the American Baptist Churches, the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, the Lutheran Evangelical Church of America, the Presbyterian Church (United States), and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). These names could not contain the loss of members. The trend, in some cases, dates back to the top of these historical denominations in the 1960s. This proportion fell to 12. 2% in 2014. Given this scenario, these churches can be expected to panic. But what if they really succeed in their mission as they shrink?What if these denominations had lost all their banks to “win the world”?
- Many Protestant historical churches have long since abandoned the preaching of Christ crucified for sinners.
- To devote themselves to the ultimate social causes; their churches were emptied.
- However.
- Their ideas flourished.
- Some of these causes.
- Particularly the defense of abortion and gay rights.
- Have become evidence of acceptance by the American social.
- Academic and political elite.
- According to many of these key leaders.
- The decline of Church members was necessary to purge the reactionary elements that resisted this progressive social vision.
- Time in the church catechizing young people when you discover that the world can do it for you.
Evangelical denominations (which have remained faithful to the Bible) have once again been withdrawn on the margins of society. As a university professor, you would not dare declare your opposition to same-sex marriage. You wouldn’t think of a career in the Democratic Party fighting abortion. Companies? They don’t want you to interrupt their meetings with conversations about mortality, judgment and the afterlife. Therefore, it may seem that true evangelicals have lost the long battle for america’s Protestant soul. a lot of evidence, at least in politics and in the media, to support their concern, but what if both sides really achieved their goals?
The None have abandoned historic churches around the world, which now reflects their top priorities. Faithful evangelical denominations have not suffered the same loss of limbs, despite the loss of their position in the world. According to an investigation of? Pew Research Center? In 2014, loyal evangelical denominations lost less than 1% of their share of the US population. But it’s not the first time Between 2007 and 2014, while historical Protestants lost 3. 4%. Losses to the Southern Baptist Convention were significant, but not as severe as in others in the meantime, the Evangelical/Charismatic Assemblies of God continue to grow. While the historical line has won the world, evangelicals loyal to the Bible have won the church.
However, there is a real problem for both sides: the world will suddenly stop changing. And the world no longer needs historical Protestants. They are old-fashioned and in decline compared to young Nones who reject dogma. In the meantime, the world will not leave the evangelicals, who remain faithful to the scriptures, in peace, for the No one cares about the persistent influence of organized religion. The response of the evangelical faithful will determine whether they will accompany the historical churches in the decline of their membership.
At least since 1980, many evangelicals, who remain faithful to the scriptures, have the illusion that they represent a silent but devoted majority committed to defending biblical morals in the United States. This theory began to erupt in 2006, when President George W. Bush lost his majority in Congrès. Et was totally annulled in 2016, when the religious right could not get along with a certain candidate.
If you live in a big city, you’ve probably given up hope that the world will support your faith. You will never be able to count on the support of neighbors who do not share their biblical beliefs. As a result, he then realizes that he is disenchantment of some evangelicals who simply abandon this concern.
“It was common for both believers?Nominal Christians, people who identified as Christians, went to church sporadically, people who certainly respected the Bible and Christianity” were the vast majority of people and ended up creating a kind of “Christian culture,” Tim Keller, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of the Redeemer, told a group of journalists in 2014. “The believer” in the fence “was more identified with devotion. Today, he identifies more with the secular, and nothing else ?.
Newsweek’s veteran religion editor, Kenneth L. Woodward, says he doesn’t see a full-scale race toward secularism in this decline. He does not expect the United States to embrace secularism in the same way that Europe has, as the number of Americans engaged in religion has only seen a slight decline over the decades. “The most likely explanation is that institutional religion experiences a delayed cleaning effect,” Woodward writes. If this theory is correct, then evangelicals have missed something that means nothing? the illusion that they had great influence. However, were they missing something else that might be of great importance? the protection of allies against their theological beliefs. These alliances warned governments against restricting the religious freedom of Christians, churches, and non-profit organizations. Did these alliances together maintain the primacy of the family nucleus? a man and a woman married and dedicated to the welfare of their children. On a personal level, this meant that he generally knew the values of the neighbors in his neighborhood, although he had heard a different sermon on Sunday.
Evangelicals will survive these changes, but we will need courage and conviction to keep our homes in order when we cannot rely on reinforcements outside our family of faith. It won’t be easy, but we have every reason to believe that God will be faithful. .
The evangelical faith must be well equipped to prosper even in such a situation. This is not entirely different from the multicultural Mediterranean world of the New Testament, where Roman jurisprudence, Greek philosophy, and various Jewish schools of thought competed for influence. two key elements of the prosperous evangelical faith in their first epistle: “Beloved, I urge you, as pilgrims and outsiders as you are, to refrain from carnal passions, which make war on the soul, maintaining their exemplary approach among the Gentiles, so that by speaking to him as evil, looking at him in his good works, glorify God on the day of the visitation?(1Pe 2. 11?12).
Peter recommends purity within the church and dignity outside the church. You will not see Peter explain or review the uncompromising sexual ethics of the Old Testament. The passions of the flesh make war on our souls and we must not surrender. Does such resistance require more spiritual resources than historical Protestantism?could unite. Parents cannot expect the media, public schools, or government to do their job by catechizing their children, or parents will catechize their children or the world will catechize them for you.
Last summer, I was talking to a fellow journalist about the loss of religious freedom amid the rise of secularism and the decline of “on the fence. “”I said I wasn’t concerned about speech restrictions or meetings in local churches, in part because political coalitions and law enforcement complications would make it impossible. However, I have admitted that I am concerned about our children. We spoke only a month after the Obama administration announced that all public schools should allow children to use gender-matching bathrooms. non-gender identity on your birth certificate. What a tragedy it would be if our children grew up, in relation to biblical morality, as a threat to American society. Then my fellow reporter detonated a bomb.
“What if it’s our own children who finally turn against us?” he asked.
I had to admit the plausibility of your concern, wasn’t that the model of previous attempts to shut down the church?But even this apocalyptic scenario was not beyond Peter’s reach. We cannot even control the thoughts and values of our children. (Ephesians 6. 4), we behave with honor. Even if our own children rise to call us evil, Peter says they will see our good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
The increase in? Odd? And secularism, with the decline of the “Gospel on the Fence,” represents a challenge that many American evangelicals had never faced. In a culture that greatly reinforced Christian values, purity did not need to distinguish the Church. If we do not consider ourselves alien to culture, we would not have to think about how our worthy behavior would differentiate us.
The world has really moved away from the church, but it has not yet discovered better alternatives or definitive answers. “Without inconsistent values to guide them, young people will be lost in the search for meaning and identity,” Woodward explains.
Instead of defining themselves through relationships established in the family, ward, churches, schools, and teachers, do young people imagine?And are they culturally encouraged to believe that the way to grow is to discover, nurture and express an outcome that comes from within, is authentic, independent of structured institutional relationships.
Protestant values, derived from historical denominations, have helped produce a world that believes it does not need the Church, but this world has not yet found anything outside of itself that gives it meaning or a sense of belonging. What an incredible opportunity for the faithful Evangelical Church to become a refuge for the orphans of modernity.
In the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection, sinners of all times, places and generations find communion with God in Christ and communion with his body, the Church. If we lose the “believer in the fence” but regain our prophetic testimony, the next generation will still be able to produce the most fruitful years of the American Church.
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[i] N. E. : This text was published by the author considering the American context, but we, from Let’s Go to the Gospel, believe that his general teaching is also important to our context.