A weather report: Malaise in the church -- what is its source?

[GraceSeeker]

I read this story and it made me wonder. Thread after thread on CF end with the same overall theme suggesting that the church is going down the tubes and it is the fault of ___________________. Fill in the blank: the clergy, the laity, love of the world, isolating ourselves from the world and its needs, liberalism, reactionary conservatives, not singing the good old hymns we grew up with, the fact that we don't have any contemporary music, the carpert is red/blue. You get the idea. Any and everything that we can point to outside of ourselves is pointed to.

I wonder, first, if things are really all that much different than they were before? Oh, I know the numbers are. But I'm not so sure things were all that much better back when the numbers were better. It's just that the church and the culture were more alike and now that is less true. And seriously, for a group of people that are supposed to be in the world but not of the world, was it ever such a good thing that you couldn't tell the difference between church and society? So, though it hurts now, the growing awareness that not everyone is a part of us may be a good thing. After all, don't most of us envision that the church was doing more of what it was supposed to be about under the persecution of Nero and Diocletian than the sudden openness toward it of Constantine?

Anyway, I stumbled on this reflection on the weather and thought maybe there was something to it:

You know what always strikes me about the weather? No one's ever happy about it. Like right now—it's springtime in Chicago, complete with occasional flurries, ice on the windshield, and numb extremities. Brrr. We feel like we're being gypped because the crocuses didn't pop up for Easter like we expected.

My boss went to Winnipeg last month. I hear that it is a frozen land. He said that even though it was about 1000 below, there were people out everywhere: skating, ice fishing, walking, and having festivals and stuff. He asked his friend how they handled such bad weather. He replied "There's no such thing as bad weather. Only bad clothing."

I hear a lot of Christians lament the future of humanity. They wring their hands, and don't go "outside" because they don't like the "weather." That's pretty much the same as people who don't go outside because it's wet, or hot, or frozen, or humid, or whatever. It may be a bit nippy out. But that's no reason to not go snowshoeing. There's no bad weather. Only bad clothing. There's no bad culture, only unprepared Christians.

So, what do you think?

When it comes to the church, is it the weather outside, or the weather inside (our person, not the building) that is the issue we need to deal with?

 

[BryanW92]

It's a combination of everything. People have changed. We're distracted easily and we fill out lives with distractions. When I was a child in the 1960's, we had one TV and it got 3 channels (most of the time). We had toys and all of them required some imagination to play. Adults worked in jobs that were pretty monotonous where they didn't have to go outside for smoke breaks or have the internet to break the boredom. Church, with organs, choirs, lots of well-varnished wood, and nice people in suits and dresses was actually a bright spot in the week.

And, even in the "Golden Age of Protestantism" that everyone thinks the 1950's was, the men were already drifting away from religion becuase the industrial lifestyle they lived just didn't have enough time to devote to church. Women had time for it in those days and, since they were responsible for more most child-raising, they stayed involved for the children's sake. Now, they are as busy (and more busy in most cases) as the men, so they don't even take the time. The men aren't coming back as they regain their free time. They spend it watching endless sports on a dozen sports networks, or fishing in their new boat, or riding that new motorcycle, or working on the hot rod, or....

So, we invented "church-lite" to help the people get in and get out and it turned Christ into a consumer good similar to an automatic car wash. Come in, pay your money, ride through the soul wash, and you're clean for a week.

That satisfies the immediate "I should go to church" impulse, but destroys the "I need a relationship with God" desire that is hard-wired into our human DNA.

So, now we're at point where we need God more than ever as the economy drives off a cliff and the future is bleak at best! But, we've lost the cultural connection to a real God. We look at drive-thru Jesus and just say "Meh". You don't hear many pastors risking their jobs by telling people that they need to give up some luxuries and some distractions to spend more time in prayer, or in service to their fellow man. They'll hint at it, but they won't come out and demand it. They'll talk about lukewarm Christianity, but they won't banish it from their church.

There are bright points of light in the sea of gray that American Christianity has become, but most burn bright for a short time before the gray overwhelms them.

 

[CallingInTheDesert]

So, what do you think?

When it comes to the church, is it the weather outside, or the weather inside (our person, not the building) that is the issue we need to deal with?

It is all about the weather inside - the way selfish people look at things.

A selfish person looking for what pleases him/her the most will never be content and joyful about his/her environment. They will never be satisfied and fulfilled with what the world has to offer, even though it is the world that they are looking to for fulfillment.

A person filled with the Spirit of God will see things in a different light. He/she will view things in a bigger picture way - more the way God views things. They will see that everything has its purpose in this world to have God's purposes done. They will have joy in the sufferings of this world in the knowledge that God is or will be glorified in all things. They will not be so concerned about how something "feels" to them, but their concern is will it glorify God and/or will it bring people to God so that God will be glorified in all things.

Evil/selfishness will not be content in any environment, but the pure love of God will be content in all things - as long as it is fulfilling God's will to be done.

The weather outside is frightful, but it is the going outside to others that must be done to show God's light to an evil world.

The outside world will hate the light of God, which is the Truth of God, but we must venture and sacrifice to the few that might desire God and all His goodness.

 

[BryanW92]

Everyone has the Spirit of God in them through prevenient grace, but not everyone listens to him. It may be selfishness, but it isn't always evil. Unfortunately the brain and body are a louder voice in most people. In some cases, it is because they are evil. In others, it is because they are selfish. And in others, it is just ignorance. The purpose of the church is to teach the ignorant and heal the selfish. We just never tell people who can vote with their feet that "you must change." As long as living for Christ is described as an option for monks, pastors, and a chosen "few" who claim that most people can't be sanctified, then people will believe that.

We need to tell all people that each of us can be holy, and then show them how it is done through preaching, small groups, service, and our own witness.

 

[Historicus]

Simply put, it has to begin with each of us.

In the words of the hymn by B. McKinney:
"Send a revival, O Christ, my Lord,
Let it go over the land and sea.
Send it according to Thy dear Word,
And let it begin in me."

 

[BryanW92]

We shouldn't expect the outside of the house to be perfect while we are living in a mess on the inside. We have to take some time away from the yard work to do the spring cleaning.

But, what is spring cleaning? When I was serving on submarines and we had to clean the engine room, everyone wanted to wipe the stainless steel handrails and no one wanted to clean the bilge. The guys would wipe up oil drips, but refused to see great globs of grease that had dropped out of the reduction gears. Unless you have a physical leader to show them what needs cleaned and an organization to set the standards of what is clean, then you will always have dirty bilges and grease globs on the deck.

 

[CallingInTheDesert]

The key to having good spiritual weather in the church is to teach everyone to die to their own selfishness.

Selfishness is the same nature as the devil's nature and will believe the same lies that the devil lives by and proclaims. Selfishness will always produce evil (bad weather), while pure love will always produce goodness (good weather). This is true whether it is in the house or out of the house.

James 3:16 - For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. NIV

1 Tim 6:10 - For the love (selfishness) of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
NIV

1 John 2:15 - If anyone loves the world (selfishness), the love of the Father is not in him. NIV

We must die to the evil in us, which is self love, and live by the nature of God, which is pure agape love. Then the people in the house (church) can show the real light of God to all the bad weather outside the house.

The transforming of our evil nature (selfishness) to the pure love nature of God is open to everyone, but it is only for the few that earnestly search for it - out of a desire to have the full goodness of God in their lives.

 

[Historicus]

But, what is spring cleaning? When I was serving on submarines and we had to clean the engine room, everyone wanted to wipe the stainless steel handrails and no one wanted to clean the bilge. The guys would wipe up oil drips, but refused to see great globs of grease that had dropped out of the reduction gears. Unless you have a physical leader to show them what needs cleaned and an organization to set the standards of what is clean, then you will always have dirty bilges and grease globs on the deck.

What I'm referring to is that we must tend to our own sins and remember what Jesus said about judging others. If we're going to share the truth of the Gospel with the lost (and we must) then we should make sure that we are at least trying to live the truth ourselves and be doers, and not only hearers of the Word.

We have the Church for the reason that you mention, and also have the Holy Spirit who convicts us of our sins.

 

[BryanW92]

What I'm referring to is that we must tend to our own sins and remember what Jesus said about judging others. If we're going to share the truth of the Gospel with the lost (and we must) then we should make sure that we are at least trying to live the truth ourselves and be doers, and not only hearers of the Word. The Church is absolutely necessary for this and what you say is correct.

I wasn't talking about different people not wanting to clean. The different cleaning chores in my analogy represented sins. I was talking about how we tend to desire to fix the "easy" sins while we ignore the big hairy ones that stare us in the face every day.