Episode 20--The State of the Church

The State of the Church in 2020

 

Hello, Civilla Morgan here! Welcome to episode 20 of the Not Just Another Religion and Politics Podcast! Thank you for tuning in! So here’s the deal: 

I want this podcast to speak to people, not yell at people. Whether you are a Believer or not, a Christian or not, I want this podcast to be so plain in its language, that even if you have never stepped foot in a church, you will get this. You will get who Jesus is, and you will get what relationship with Him could be like, despite what people--Christians and non-Christians, try to do to get you to turn your back. Come along with me. I promise it will be a really cool experience! 

 

Body of episode:

Much of the research for this episode came from Barna Research. There is enough content to last days and months. And I wanted to start my research with how non-Christians felt about Christians. It’s one of my favorite pet peeves: the way we allow the world to see us, to view us. The way we behave in the world. And the way the Bible says we should behave in the world.

 

Lest I sound holier than thou, let me explain. The Bible is filled with commands on how we should live as Believers. 

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. --Matthew 7:1-2.

 

'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."--Mark 12:31.

 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’[a] But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.’--Matthew 5:38-40.

 

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.’--Matthew 5:13-16.

 

Those are just a few, and as you can probably see, at least one of them is not exactly easy to do. Which do you think it is? No one that I know of would say that being a Christian, a Believer, is easy. It’s just not. Why do we do it?    We do it because when we say yes to Jesus, He changes our hearts and minds. We couldn’t, shouldn’t remain the same once we become Believers. Instead, we are supposed to grow, to mature. Now everyone matures at different rates. But we should not be in the same spot in our Christian walk five, 10, 20, 30 years later. Keep that in mind as you make your way through your Christian journey.

 

In their article, ‘What non-Christians want from faith conversations’, the numbers say:

• Nearly all non-Christians (identify with a faith other than Christianity or no faith at all) and lapsed Christians (identify as Christian but have not attended church within the past month)
• have a friend or family member who practices and prioritizes Christianity—but these believers may not be their ideal conversation partners when it comes to faith. 
• For instance, more than six in 10 non-Christians and lapsed Christians (62%) say they would be open to talking about faith matters with someone who listens without judgment—the top quality they value—but only one-third (34%) sees this trait in the Christians they know personally.’

   

So basically:

•  we are judgemental in our conversations with non-Christians or ‘backsliders’.  
• And we do not appear to be welcoming or inviting to the conversations that would be Christians or backsliders would like to have.  This sounds like we either do not want to evangelize, thinking it is our pastor’s job to do or are afraid of being rejected if we initiate the conversation? May I suggest that we remain open to having the conversation with anyone, not just our circle of friends, which will increase the dare I say odds, of having the conversation?  

Online services:

The next thing I checked into was online church. It’s quite pertinent as this episode is being recorded at the end of 2020, the year of the pandemic. Many of us are not attending church in person although more churches have re-opened for in-person service. I have opted to continue watching online to help protect my dad from COVID. So as I researched online service I found an interesting article on Pew Research, one of my favorite research platforms. 

Where I thought they would simply discuss online church in the midst of a pandemic, the article actually talks about online church and people of color.  You see, as everyone knows by now, people of color have been hardest hit by this pandemic because we tend to be the ones on the front line, and the ones with pre-existing conditions. Both are low hanging fruit for the virus. Here are the numbers:

• ‘Nearly three-quarters of white adults who report that they regularly attend religious services (72%) say they are “very” or “somewhat” confident they could safely attend in-person services right now at their regular house of worship without spreading or catching the coronavirus.’ 
• ‘...around half of Black (49%) and Hispanic (51%) Americans who are similarly observant express such confidence. 

 

This is because people of color know the numbers. We hear the numbers every day. We see the families of affected people on our television screens every evening. We are just not willing to take the risk. I know I’m not. 

See below for the link to the entire article. It’s a good article. 

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/07/amid-pandemic-black-and-hispanic-worshippers-more-concerned-about-safety-of-in-person-religious-services/

The church and social justice:

On the church and social justice, I found an essay that really pinpointed how the church should be involved, or not, in social justice. Here is a snippet:    

‘The primary work of the institutional church is not to promote social justice, it is to warn people of divine justice. Its primary business is not to call society to be more righteous but to tell persons of the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Its primary work is not to tell us who to elect to public office, it is to tell those in every nation of the One who elected many for eternal life. The primary work of the institutional church is to open and close the kingdom of God and to nurture the Christian faith. This it does primarily through the pure preaching of the gospel, the pure administration of the sacraments, and the exercise of church discipline.’--Calvin P. Van Reken. 

The link to the entire essay is in the show notes. I think this is the closest I’ve come to my research if finding something that matches my feelings on the church's involvement in social justice. Check it out!

 

https://www.calvin.edu/library/database/crcpi/fulltext/ctj/68491.pdf

 

There is also an intriguing article by tabletmag.com that talks about how church--Christian and Catholic, as well as synagogue attendance is falling off almost precipitously as the article says in part: 

‘ For one thing, young Americans have different habits. Rather than join institutions, millennials, argued Wade Clark Roof, author of the book Spiritual Marketplace, are indulging in a kind of “grazing,” finding their spiritual fixes in various different places rather than anyone organized church. As sociologists Robert Putnam and David Campbell explained, those in this age group “reject conventional religious affiliation, while not entirely giving up their religious feelings.” 

The article also says that in addition to the young finding their religion through grazing, the church is under attack by the political left, assisted by the media. This is not new, but it seems to be a resurgence of the church trying to fit in so it is not attacked by these two entities. 

Here’s the bottom line: we are going to have to read our Bibles and not just read them, but understand them. And we cannot rely on just what we hear on Sunday mornings. We should be reading daily, and we should use an assistive device such as a study Bible and or a commentary.

I use the Matthew Henry Commentary, Strong’s Dictionary, and Smith’s Bible Dictionary, among other research products. 

But what does all of that have to do with the decline in church attendance? Well, if you are not a part of the decline, then you are still attending church. But hopefully, you are not attending just to attend, but because you want to be in relationship with God. And to be in relationship with God it is best to understand His heart. 

His heart is for us as His creation. He does not hate anyone, although that narrative is what many non-Believers embrace to allow them to move through life in a dismissive way toward organized Religion: I.e. Christianity, Judaism, Catholicism. So I’m telling you that if you want to continue to walk with Jesus, go to church, and live the way the Bible says to live, you will not agree with everything the Left believes. And if you are truly living the way the Bible says to live, you will not believe or behave in the way the Right does either. You are going to live the Bible. You are going to show love to and for all of God’s creation.  You may not agree with their decisions or lifestyles, but you will lead with love. It’s really simple, but as mentioned earlier, the presumption is that if you do not agree with everything the left believes in they think you have them. And if you do not behave in the unrecognizable way the Right is behaving, then you hate God. 

We may find ourselves caught in the middle of a really ugly fight. But we can only continue trusting God that He sees and hears our prayers. He will protect us as we journey with Him.                  

See the link in the show notes for the entire article.

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/social-justice-is-killing-synagogues

Single in the church in 2020:

Now, last but not least, I want to discuss being single in church. I could also talk about being married in the church, but I won’t distinguish separately as I believe discussing being single in the church will in fact highlight being married in church. You’ll see.

I found a great article, or blog, written by Sarah Thebarge. It’s an old blog, but I found it quite relevant. She starts out by saying that the blog is not a church bashing session, She talks about how ‘Marriage is treated as the benchmark for maturity and adulthood’, or how ‘Single people are often disqualified from, or not even considered for,  ministry positions because they're not married.’  

I really liked her reminder on how Paul said that elders should be "the husband of one wife." and the church took that and ran with it, basically relegating single people to second class citizens who are not allowed a place in ministry, but Paul and Jesus were single! Hello!

It’s a great article, check it out. Link in the show notes.    

There is also another article with the link in the show notes called ‘is the church letting down single Christians.’Similar premise, reminding anyone who would listen, that singles do not need to be fixed. What a concept right?!

 

https://www.sarahthebarge.com/blog/2015/01/7-reasons-why-its-hard-to-be-single-in-the-church

 

https://www.beliefnet.com/love-family/is-the-church-letting-down-single-christians.aspx

Well, I know the state of the church may seem a little depressing. I mean the precipitous fall off of church attendance, one political party thinking that we hate them because we may not agree with everything they say and do while the other party is giving the world cause to wonder what in the world happened to the church!  

Things can seem out of control and leaving you wondering if you should continue on with the church. Or maybe you have decided to follow Jesus no matter what but wonder how to get the word out that although you are a Believer, a Jesus follower, that you do not hate.  Well, the best way to get the word out is to live your belief. Just live it out. It will not always be easy, but keep living it and trust God to direct you on your journey. 

 

Percentage of professing Christians in 2020 vs 10 years ago:

•  Both Protestantism and Catholicism are experiencing losses of population share. Currently, 43% of U.S. adults identify with Protestantism, down from 51% in 2009. 
• And one-in-five adults (20%) are Catholic, down from 23% in 2009. 
• Meanwhile, all subsets of the religiously unaffiliated population – a group also known as religious “nones” – have seen their numbers swell. Self-described atheists now account for 4% of U.S. adults, up modestly but significantly from 2% in 2009; 
• agnostics make up 5% of U.S. adults, up from 3% a decade ago; 
• and 17% of Americans now describe their religion as “nothing in particular,” up from 12% in 2009. Members of non-Christian religions also have grown modestly as a share of the adult population.

Closing commentary:

 

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. --Matthew 7:1-2.

 

'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."--Mark 12:31.

 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’[a] But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.’--Matthew 5:38-40.

 

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.’--Matthew 5:13-16.

Don’t forget, I would love to hear from you on the question: 

‘Who is God?’ 

 

Episode outro:

 

Well, thank you for tuning in. Let me know via social media or by email if you have feedback. I would love to hear from you! You may email me at [email protected]. Please give me 24 to 48 hours to respond. And don’t forget to check the show notes for the sources used for this episode. Until next time! 

Research links/Episode Takeaways:

 

https://www.barna.com/research/state-of-the-church-2020/

 

https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2016/september/state-of-american-church-when-numbers-point-to-new-reality.html

 

https://www.barna.com/research/churchpulse-weekly-conversations-mark-sayers-faith-crisis/

 

https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/

 

https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/

 

Episode 12--Grace and Mercy

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-cp3rt-e63e5f