There's More to the Story
Recently during our Sunday service at church, one of our leaders who heads up the prayer time before I give the message, shares information that he relates to Scripture. This time he shared a study of current statistics on church attendance and a particular cultural condition statistic. What struck me after he read the statistics, was when he read the part about the cultural condition statistic. The study of course, only focused on the external cause of the decline of church attendance and the cultural condition. Studies and survey's of this nature rarely if ever take into consideration the internal causes of such issues. By internal causes, I'm meaning spiritual causes. What happens in the external, or natural realm is always due to a spiritual dynamic. There is more to the story of everything we are see happening in America and around the world. We all need to come out of our so-called sophistication and realize there is truly spiritual dynamics at work.
I do not remember the statistics of the study, nor how the church leader related it to the Scripture, not because I was bored, but rather because my mind became stuck on the fact of what I had mentioned-these studies and surveys never take into account the spiritual aspect. Therefore, I did my own research and will discuss the spiritual dynamic. This writing is not meant to be of a critical spirit or to be a downer. It is meant for us as Christians to wake up and examine our own hearts and realize that the only thing that will bring change is God's covenantal people, the Church. We keep waiting for God to move, but God chooses to move through His Body of Christ which is us, His Church. He cannot move through us in the conditions that we are about to look at.
The first thing the study pointed out was that church attendance has been in decline for thirty plus years. Here are the stats I came across. In 1990 Adult Americans who considered themselves Christian was at 85%. In 2001 it went up to 86.1%. The percentage went down in 2012 to 78%, 70.6% in 2014, went up to 75% in 2015, but since then has steadly gone down significantly. In 2020 the percentage dropped to 65%. By this year, 2024 it went up 1 percentage point to 66%.
Another startling stat is that as of 2020 only 35% of Christians believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation. That means 65% of Christians do not. Also 44% of Christians do not believe that Jesus is God incarnate/the Son of God. However, that number is misleading, because if one does not believe Jesus is the only way to salvation, one truly does not believe He is the Son of God because the only way Jesus could be the only way to salvation is to BE the Son of God or God incarnate. So basically, the 65% of Christians that do not believe Jesus is the only way to salvation, in reality also do not believe He is the Son of God.
The other part of the study that parallels to the time frame of the decline of church attendance was the increase of single parent families. Once again, this is not to be disparaging to single parent households. There are single parents that do wonderful jobs, despite the odds against them, in bringing up their children. However, it is a known fact that for the most part, the percentage of children dropping out of school, becoming addicted to alcohol and drugs, and falling into the criminal justice system exponentially increases.
In 2013, 28% of children were being raised in a single parent home. In 2024 that came down to 25%, which is good. However, still one in four households are single parent households. Of the 25% of households being single parent, a whopping 80% of single parent households are mothers. Again, this is not to say single moms are incompetent. I personally have known some moms, some with four children who have been doing an excellent job. The problem is, though, the odds are very much against them. In the 1960's and early 1970's single parent home percentages were much smaller. Is it a coincidence that single parent households were significantly lower at a time when church attendance was significantly higher? And you're going to tell me that there is no underlying spiritual dynamic behind this? You'd better pull your head out (that is, out of the sand) and put on the mind of Christ. Like it says in Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:”
Now, let us consider this. Of the 66% of American adults that consider themselves Christians, only 6% possess a biblical world view. A staggering 92% of that 66% identify themselves as having what is called a syncretist world view. A sycrcetist world view is that which believe Christianity can combine all other kinds of religious and humanistic viewpoints in their belief system. This kind of belief system is tantamount to the Israelite people of the Old Covenant, who thought they could go into idolatry and worship pagan gods, while still practicing the Law of Moses. We know by how God spoke through the prophets telling them how He felt about that mixture. He warned them numerous times out of love what would happen if they continued to violate the covenant. The Israelites refused to listen and things did not go well for them to say the least. Think Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar-Jerusalem and the Temple being destroyed. If they had repented, none of that would have happened.
I have no problem with respecting someone who practices different religions, or has differing view of Christianity, or even differing life styles. I've worked with all kinds of different people in the years I have worked secular jobs. However, if the opportunity arose, these people would know exactly where I stood on things. I did not make them feel inferior or disrespected, but they did know where I stood and that I would not compromise.
What these statistics regarding Christianity show is what the Bible says, “...there is no new thing under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9. What we are seeing today is nothing new. The first century church had issues like what we are seeing today.
Getting back to the study about the decline of church attendance and the rise in single parent home. The people who did the study said all of this was a result of peoples changing attitudes regarding religion, marriage and so on. As I mentioned earlier, they are only speaking of the external. Both conditions are a result of what is going on or what is not going on in people's spiritual lives.
The reason why the culture and society's attitudes have changed is because a significant majority of Christians attitudes have changed. I dare say, not for the better. Christians in an effort to be “reasonable” and “understanding” have allowed too much infiltration of the wrong belief systems. I am all for being “reasonable” and “understanding.” But there comes a point where a line needs to be drawn in the sand, so to speak, for the sake of causing people to be see how they are harming themselves. Because we have allowed the secular and other world views to influence us, in turn, we have become ineffective at influencing society and the culture for the better. When that happens the wrong beliefs exponentially gain momentum. Hence, attitudes toward marriage drastically change, single parent homes increase which puts young people at extemely high risk. The society and culture start to implode. The fact that our nation has been in steady decline in every sphere of life while Christians have adopted a syncrestic world view is evidence itself as to the spiritual root of our problems.
As mentioned before, the early Church had situations in which wrong belief systments tried to influence it. In the book of Acts, initially the Jewish disciples of Jesus believed that the baptism of the power of the Holy Spirit was for the Jewish believers only. In Acts chapter ten, Peter has a vision in which God speaks to him and says, “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common or unclean.” Acts 10:14. Peter is eventually invited to a Roman centurions home requesting that Peter share the Gospel. As Peter preaches, the power of the Holy Spirit fills all the Gentiles in the house. In chapter eleven, when Peter returns to Jerusalem, he catches flack from the Jewish believers in Christ for him having entered a Gentile's home and eating with them. Peter explains the situation, and for the most part at that time the issue was settled.
However, as the Gospel became widespread, Gentiles were being converted by the droves. There were many Jewish believers who felt that accepting Jesus was needful for salvation, but to be absolutely saved, the Gentiles needed to be circumsied and follow the Laws of Moses. In Acts 15 there was a council to figure out what to do with the massive influx of Gentiles into the faith. The apostle Paul throughout much of his ministry, having been a leader in the Jewish faith, having at one time severly persecuting Christians, was constantly stating that salvation was in Jesus Christ and His finished work alone, not in the works of the Law. The power of the Holy Spirit enables us to live godly. The Holy Spirit transforms our heart to desire to live godly. God's desire is for us to “want to” live for Him, not out of “have to.”
An example of what Paul was constantly up against preaching the Gospel of grace as opposed to the works of the Law is in Galations 3:1-3. In the New Living Translation it reads, “Oh foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jessu Christ's death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of His death on the cross. Let me ask you this question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the Law of Moses? Of cousre not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?”
Again, this is just one example. There are many in the epistles of Paul. In the epistles of Peter and John, both apostles address false teachings infultrating the Church. Often times, when the Christian Church allowed such infultration, the results historically were catastrophic, not only for the Church itself, but for the culture and society as well. In Matthew 15:6 Jesus said, “Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.” The commandment of God is the word of God. In Hebrews 4:12 the word of God is described as powerful. When there is a mixture of the word of God and various views, opinions, rationalizatons of humanism, the power of God's word becomes of non effect.
Jesus said in John 5:23, “That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father.” Think about what Jesus is saying here. If we don't honor Him, we have no honor of the Father.
How can we as American Christians say we honor Jesus when 66% of adult American Christinas no longer believe He is the only way to salvation/in essence no longer believing He's the Son of God? How can we as American Chrisians say we honor Jesus when 92% of that 66% have a syncretist world view. If we do not honor Jesus we do not honor God. If we do not honor God, how can His presence be in our churches. If His presence is not in our churches, that speaks volumes as to the real reason why there is a decline in church attendance and why the culture and society is going to hell in a hand basket. When we believe that the presence of God is in our midst in a service, is it truly the presence of God, or is it more of an emotional feeling that we've grown accustomed to, thinking it's the presence of God?
When I read John 5:23 last week preparing the message for this past Sunday, it really shook me. I've been examining my heart before the Lord asking Him to reveal anything in my heart that is a mixture. There's nothing wrong with expressing emotion in praise and worship. When the Holy Spirit truly moves, He will have an effect on the emotions. However, there is a fine line and we must be sure that we do not get so caught up in having the same thing go on over and over and over again in our services because it makes us feel good or because it's our preference. We need to truly allow God to move the way He wants to move, not the way we want Him to move. We need to stop serving God on our terms and start serving God on His terms.
I hope you have been able to get to this point in the article. Here is where there is hope. All we need to do is repent of all of what was mentioned above, committ ourselves to yielding to His Spirit, allow Him to have His way in our lives like never before. We need to become God/Christ/Kingdom Centered. We need to seek the Lord like never before in our personal lives and corporately as a church. Myself and many others have been saying that an unprecedented revival that will make all other past revivals including Pentecost combined look miniscule. For that to happen, we need to be on our faces calling out to God, rending our hearts before Him, and allowing Him to transform us like never before. I hope you will join me in this prayer.
“Holy Father, Precious Jesus, Holy Spirit, Oh Lord my God, Search me and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts: see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Cleanse me from secret faults. Heal me, Lord God, and I shall be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved. You are my praise. Help me become more like Jesus. I thank you Lord God, that anyone who calls upon You can approach Your throne of grace with the confidence of knowing that You will not reject us, and You will give us mercy and find the grace to help in time of need. Amen.”
Love & God bless you all, Pastor Paul