On the fringe

A couple stats from UnChristian:

• less than 3% of young Americans age 18-41 believe all 8 points of a biblical world view (that absolute moral truth exists; that the source of moral truth is the Bible; that the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches; that eternal spiritual salvation cannot be earned; that Jesus lived a sinless life on earth; that every person has a responsibility to share their religious beliefs with others; that Satan is a living force, not just a symbol of evil; and that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful maker of the universe who still rules that creation today.  (p. 75)
  
• there are about 20 million total born-again Christians in this country [out of a population of over 300 million] who describe faith as their top priority and who say their entire purpose in life is summed up by the statement "love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength." (p. 210)
  

This means that people who have sold out to loving and serving Jesus are a small and increasingly shrinking minority of the overall population.  Oh, I know that many people occasionally have attended churches in their lifetime--maybe even recently.  But when it shakes out to real and living followers of Jesus, the numbers get pretty small.  Many Americans are in fact, de-churched.

Does this bother you?  Or excite you?  It excites me.  We're a Church that is moving quickly to the fringes of power and influence in our culture and I believe it is the best thing that could happen to American Christianity.  The church on the fringe is a church that exchanges pursuit of power for pursuit of people.  Church on the fringe is the Church of the New Testament. 

The thing about the fringe is you can choose to feel marginalized, wander off and think about the "glory days" of power and influence or you can choose to hunger for God and pray for the heart of the church to be renewed with a passion to lovingly serve people.  Jesus was born and died poor and marginalized yet full of power and authority that transformed peoples' lives forever.

Jesus, give us joy in being on the fringes of power and courage to love and serve this city for Your glory.

Comments

[Mo]

I took something different away from this article.

According to this it seems that those within the church, who claim to be followers of Christ, don't even know what worldview even means. (I have read about this many, many times.)

Christians need to know not just the basics of their own faith, but also that it is a worldview that affects every area of life. And then they need to learn how to relate that worldview to the those outside the church.

[Michael Atto]

Dear Pastor Kevin & readers,
If the statistics from the book "Unchristian" are accurate that only 20% of Americans are devout Christians or "born again", then is the church in America ready for a revival? Is the church in America ready to address our present society? Is American Christianity-the church in America (Catholic, Protestants) understanding of its present society? Lets review our recent American History: 1. The church willfully ignored the issues affecting our country in the sixties. These issues still affect us today. 2. In the last eight years the church in America, especially protestant, have been more "political" than "moral"-meaning simply standing up for what is right or wrong gracefully, respectfully but firmly. The result is a country deeply divided, hurting & angry. What may be worse is that Jesus has become a political figure in the negative sense. Has our Faith been represented sincerely, genuinely, & accurately in our politically correct society? For years churches, Christians & myself have prayed for a revival in this country. Perhaps we dont need to pray for a revival. Perhaps revival will start when the church is in a better state & position to welcome an age of revival. And let us not be naive as we may have been in the past & in recent times. A revival will only come when the church is willing to live in its time & face society & its present conditions: to bear the burdens of our fellow man, address the injustices of our society, heal the sick (the body & soul), etc.
The church is suppose to be the instrument for revival. If there is a revival in this country then it will start with us-our attitude & mentality. We are the church.

Sincerely & Respectfully,
Michael Atto
8/7/08