Something I've been wondering about...

[trentlogain2]

I've heard it said that today's church isn't what it was from generations in the past. People talk about the good o'le days where churches would be full and people would get saved every Sunday. They say it's just not like that anymore. I would appreciate your feedback on this subject. Thanks

 

[RestoreTheRiver]

I've been active in the church for 40 years. Many churches today have departed from both the historic Christian faith; and from a living faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. True faith needs to be both taught, and caught. The churches who have forgotten this are in decline.

However, wherever the church is living and teaching the fullness of the Christian faith "once and for all delivered to the saints", it is robust and growing. The difference is not so much the times, as it is the focus of the churches in question.

Michael

 

[kaykay9.0]

I agree with Restore the River, but I also think that our society here in the US has become increasingly secular in the last 40 years and I think that makes a difference in the difficulty or ease in ministering the gospel to folks, in church or out.

 

[bewithmelord]

It seems to me change is constant, in my short few years much has changed. But I feel like God is able to keep up with the changes, and to preserve his churches and prepare them for his Wedding day,,he is able to accomplish this I believe. No one can stop his church, nor destroy it from within,nor from without.

While many churches may corrupt themselves, others no doupt will shine in our dark age in which we live. But in due time, the Lord will judge his people, and each man will recieve according to that which he has done, with what God has given him. I sense it will be a terible day of much sorrow for many, but for many it will be a day of rejoicing also.

It does apear to me we are in the last days, with many falling away, and giving heed to seducing spirits ,fables, and doctrines of devils,,something I myself have been quilty of. I am trying hard to prepare myself for my wedding day,, so when my Lord arives, I will be clean, ready, with pure garments, and be able to enter in to the wedding feast, with the proper garments.

 

[Wol]

I agree with kaykay9.0. US culture has changed enormously in my lifetime and that has had its effect on the church. When I was a small boy in public school in the '50s, we would commonly begin the school day with a reading from the Bible -- usually some verses from one of the Psalms. As far as I know, no one thought that there was any problem with that.

It's not that folks agreed on everything by any means, but there seemed to be (at least tacit) agreement that there was such a thing as "Truth". Now, truth is either assumed not to exist in any meaningful sense at all, or to exist solely as something personal and idiosyncratic. "Well -- that might be true for you but it isn't true for me". This represents a HUGE shift in the culture and that shift has found its way into the Church. So when Jesus says "I am 'the' way, 'the' truth and 'the' life", that doesn't make sense at all to many people today. They might be able to accept Jesus as 'a' way, but not as 'the' way, and, I am sorry to say, the Church in general has been slow to recognize and respond to this problem.

Of course the Church has changed in other ways also. Music comes to mind...

 

[bewithmelord]

That is so true. I cant count how many times I have heard, if its true to you, its your truth. I was once told by a high ranking person in the craft, nothing is true, and nothing is false. I then asked him, is your statement then true, or false?

No one today wants anyone telling them what is true,, how dare God try an -impose- his will on me. People think they can decide what is true, and custom make it to fit thier would veiw. But truth stands on its own, and doesnt need a man to declare it to be true, it is true, even if we say it is not.

Truth can only be discovered, not made up. I told this man,, if the world was thought to be flat, does that mean that it is flat, because we believe it to be so? No, the world has been round, even when we thought it was flat. We discovered one day, we were wrong, the earth is actually round, not flat.

Mankind does not have the moral authority to declare and decide for himself what is truth, he must look to God for guidance, and embrace what God declares to be true.
With the Lord as our truth bearer, we can know truth, and we can know right from wrong, with the Holy Spirit as our guide.

 

[Hisbygrace]

I agree with everyone above. People only want what makes them feel good and many times what makes them feel good is against what God wants for us.

 

[RestoreTheRiver]

This is an excellent discussion! I fully agree that our culture has changed, and that, while there are bright spots, the overall direction of that change is for the worse. Given that, the churches have had one of three responses:

1) Pull in to a fortress mentality, and stop engaging the culture at all.
2) Embrace the culture uncritically, and let it's beliefs and values become
the beliefs and values of the church.
3) Stay faithful to the Faith "once and for all delivered to the saints", and
find ways to communicate that unchanging faith to our changing
culture.


Churches that choose the first path have forgotten the Great Commission, and will fade away.

Churches that choose the second path are ceasing to really be the church. They have no message of redemption and transformation, and are departing from the Faith more and more each day.

Churches that choose the third path are alive, and will be effective in engaging and transforming people, even in this declining culture.

Michael

 

[red giraffe]

The more things change the more they stay the same. Seems to me we were told the same thing when I was a youngin' in church. Now that I'm on the other side of the hill I am seeing the same. Culture changes/style changes/ fewer people doing the majority of the work needed to keep a church going. However, the youth of today are stepping up. I'm so pleased to report the intense love I'm seeing in action in the youth in several churches here in WA. Major change? Shift in paradim from JudeoChristian basis for the US to a pantheistic "any God is a Good God".

 

[davedajobauk]

I've been wondering too

Regarding 'Trolls' and the many replies to their posts by 'New Members'
Especially, as they {new members] have decided [as is their prerogative]
to hide all of their past few posts, iow: they have disabled 'searching' for them

One has to ask the question: 'are they all, AKA's, of the same IP address' ?

For their posts, have little to do with christian fellowship [?] or, am I missing some very-relevant 'issue'
that will [with-response] give God, all of the praise and all of the glory

Instead, as seems apparent, they wish to raise matters that could, cause divisiveness
and quite unnecessary concerns
Let us instead be reassured
that nothing occurs, that He will not-notice
'Choice' is a personal blessing... All have choice...
if their choice is His 'way'
then those, that choose to go any-other way, will simply be 'lost'
God knows!





dave

 

[MPaul]

I can't think of any good ole days for church services. I was very naive when I first became a Christian, and I just trusted that the way the church did things was how they were supposed to be. As I got older, I realized slowly and more and more, that church for the most part was the blind leading the blind. People pretending they knew when they didn't.... but Christ was preached and people got saved anyway. Then, I think they grew in Christ more out of their own determination than anything.

Finally, I decided to study what the bible had to say about church more, and I ended up in the house church movement. At last, I found relevance, and where I at least belonged.

I look to guidance from God and bible study first, and the church second. I ask God to show me how to make my Christian experience exciting and relevant and how to be at the center of what he is doing. I make a point of seeking out ways to help people become saved... but I am open to new approaches and being creative. I don't compromise and I don't let the ways of the world come in. I make myself ultimately responsible for what happens in my being a part of the church.

Oh my gosh.... won't the preacher castigate me now.... but I'll let my conscience be my final authority, as it is enlightened by a study of scripture and by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.