How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things! Romans 10:14-15
This is the international distress signal which is primarily used by aviators and mariners, but some police and firefighters also use the signal. If your aircraft or ship is going down, you send out this radio signal to seek help. While I am not trying to promote a spirit of doom and gloom, we (by “we” I mean the Lord’s church in the US) must acknowledge that our ship is taking on water and will soon sink if we do not take the necessary measures to correct the problem. Numbers do not lie, and the numbers show the Lord’s church in the United States is declining at an alarming pace. 21st Century Christian’s data compiled from 2003 to 2015 showed we lost 8.3% of our membership. That is not a typo. In a span of 12 years, we declined at a rate of 1 out of 12 members, nationwide. If this trend continues, in less than 150 years, the Lord’s church will cease to exist in the United States. Another alarming statistic is the fact that 50% of our children who leave for college become disassociated with the church, and of those who leave, only 33% ever come back. How did we get here, and how do we change this trend?
Many factors have contributed to this sad reality. Postmodern society’s denial of absolute truth adds difficulty to the work of evangelism. Atheism and agnosticism have given “science” God-like status. Islam and other world religions are leading many away from Christianity. Overuse of social media has weakened our communication skills making it harder to engage in dialogue about sensitive matters, especially those that require deeper understanding. Add to this the general indifference to the Bible, and it is easy to see we face an uphill battle.
It is my humble opinion that the real reason for our decline is not these external factors, but it is our internal reaction to these factors. Many of these issues existed before the church was founded. For instance, Pilate was a postmodernist over 1900 years before the birth of postmodernism. After Jesus told him He had come into the world to bear witness to the truth, Pilate said, “What is truth?” (John 18:37-38). The Psalmist wrote of Atheism when he said, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘there is no God” (Psalms 14:1). A great example of religious/philosophical pluralism is found in Acts 17:16-34 in the city of Athens, Greece. They were said to spend all their time either hearing or telling some new thing (vs. 21). They worshipped every “god” man could invent, and when it came to the true and living God, they tabbed Him “the unknown god” (vs. 23). They did not let these challenges slow the work of evangelism in the early church, so why has this vital work of the church now stagnated in the United States?
I cannot speak for everyone, but I am convinced the difference is the level of buy-in they possessed versus the level in the Lord’s church in the US today. In Acts 8:4, after Stephen was stoned, the disciples were scattered by violent persecution. All they did was run and tell whoever they could the same gospel that got Stephen stoned and got them run out of town on a rail. Jesus was truly their everything, and nothing was going to shut their mouths. The only way to keep this ship from sinking is to eliminate the distractions and excuses we may make, fix our eyes on Him, and get on with the race He has given us (Hebrews 12:1-2). We cannot let the sons of this world be more shrewd than the sons of light (Luke 16:8). We must be the people Jesus intended, “…zealous for good works” (Titus 2:11-14). While visiting India, a preacher friend of mine was told by one of the preachers he helped train, “One day we will send missionaries to your country.” Let’s make sure that isn’t anytime soon.