NOTICE:
In 2013, the author John S. Dickerson wrote about the troubling situation of the American Church in his book “The Great Evangelical Recession: 6 Factors That Will Destroy the American Church and How to Prepare.”
Mr. DickersonThe main premise was that Christian orthodoxy in the United States is in rapid decline. The evidence he presented to support what at first glance appears to be a terminal diagnosis is multi-faceted.
According to Mr. Dickerson, Orthodox belief, church attendance and denominational loyalty are falling precipitously. He argues that, through attrition, the transition from the religious homogeneity of Baby Boomers to the therapeutic deism of Millennials and Generation Z is leading the Church to flounder and lose cultural influence.
Political divisions and partisan disagreements accelerate the decline of the Church’s voice. There are countless intramural divisions. Church attendance is plummeting, with more than 2.6 million younger American generations leaving the sanctuary and abandoning the biblical faith in the last ten years alone. This trend will only accelerate in the decades to come.
Mr. Dickerson predicts that the number of nonreligious and secular Americans will continue to skyrocket. At the same time, the percentage of conservative Christians – those who believe in the Bible and seek to live by its precepts – will decline to less than 7% of the population. The days of the Christian majority are over, he warns. Judeo-Christian ethics are a thing of the past. Even more sobering than this rise in religious indifference will be the increased animosity and outright antagonism toward biblical values.
It was over 10 years ago. How has America fared since the publication of Mr. Dickersonthe book ? The evidence supporting his predictions appears abundant.
George Barna reports that weekly church attendance has dropped to just 2 in 10 people and only 4 percent of Americans have a biblical worldview. Furthermore, evidence of postmodernity’s intolerance and even hatred of orthodox Christianity now dominates the evening news. Consider a sample of headlines since Mr. DickersonThe book was published:
• Two pastors were arrested in California for reading the Bible in public.
• An order by Catholic nuns was taken to the Supreme Court for refusing to provide her sisters with abortion-inducing drugs.
• The American Psychological Association is considering changing its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual to include a diagnosis called “intolerant personality disorder” to describe any Christian who believes sexual behavior should be reserved exclusively for heterosexual marriage.
• New York Times writer David French uses his progressive political agenda to lambast conservative Christians for being too political.
• Russell Moore, editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, repeatedly criticizes evangelicals for voting for a pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-liberty, pro-borders, pro-Constitution, and pro-healthcare political party.
• Hollywood filmmaker Rob Reiner calls politically active Christians completely “antithetical to the teachings of Jesus.”
• A Super Bowl ad titled “He Gets Us” portrays Christians who oppose the killing of babies and the debauchery of our bodies through sexual nihilism as guilty of “teaching hate.”
The list of grievances against traditional Christians seems endless. We could fill books with anecdotes calling for the faithful to be “thrown out and trampled under foot” by those who hate our piety. Conservative Christianity is now seen as dysfunctional rather than desirable. Biblical values are now pursued rather than promoted. Orthodox followers of Christ constitute an insult to human dignity.
Instead of deserving respect, we need treatment. We deserve to be punished. We should bow in submission and wash the feet of all those we have offended by speaking the truth.
In the midst of this freefall of respect for the Church of Christ, how should we respond? Should the rest of us just take our ball, go home, hunker down and wait out the end?
Jesus himself gives us the answer. His Great Commission requires that we go into every corner of every culture and proclaim the good news. While assuring Gideon’s few men that they would see victory, he also promises us that the gates of hell will not prevail.
As one critic of Mr. Dickerson‘s book said: “There is no gloom or doom in The Great Evangelical Recession – just an honest assessment of where we are and a solid hope for what we must do to get to where we are. we have to be. »
The solution to the mess we find ourselves in is obvious. Christians need to stop playing defense and play offense. Even though we are few in number, we must go and reclaim every square inch of creation for Christ and his kingdom. The result is guaranteed. We know the end of the story. The Church Triumphant wins.
• Everett Piper (dreverettpiper.com, @dreverettpiper), a Washington Times columnist, is a former university president and radio host.
