Monday Morning Music Ministry

2-18-19

I address Christians as a group – a fellowship that frequently is as hard to corral as a litter of frisky cats. “We” are children of the Living God, or anyway should consider ourselves so. We read the same Bible and worship the Trinitarian God. As we know, since the Church’s earliest days, there have been disagreements, splinters, deep schisms, and heresies.

Sometimes these are caused by cultural traditions that die hard; and sometimes fierce scholarly differences bring division. In the first century these debates were rife… and resulted in councils that promulgated Creeds – to remind believers what they believed.

Then we get to the questions I asked, Are we winning, and what constitutes winning?

This can sound crass… or be crass. I always wince when I hear pastors talking about how many people they “run” every Sunday in their churches. I know they care about attendance, but the term connotes fannies-in-the-seats, and inappropriate priorities. Yes, churches need to pay utility bills too, but can we hear Luke 15:10 amid the shouting? – “There is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”

There are statistics aplenty about church growth; denominations that expand or merge; “reaching” the lost; “attracting” the many; “keeping” the kids; satellite churches and retreats; conversations about relevance… until the statistics suggest irrelevance. God forbid.

“Upon this rock I will build my…” weekend retreat? Pot-luck dinner? Christian Jazzercise? God forbid.

Jesus died on the cross, and rose from the dead, for churches that define identity by these activities?

Are American Christians helping to evangelize, convert, transform the world… or are we being transformed to the image of the world?

Winning. Listen, we win in the end – I mean God wins. He already has won. I peeked ahead to the last pages of His book. You can look too. Take comfort… as long as you can be counted with the “we.”

But whether our nation is lost, whether we and our children are spared or caught up in tribulation, is a question for you to answer. As individuals, not denominations.

“Winning”? Let me share one more statistic that fixes the term in solid if shifting focus. It is reported that Christianity is on the RISE in 170 countries around the world.

The number of Christians is declining, however, in 20 countries. The United States is one of them.

“The last, great hope of mankind”? Peek ahead to those final pages…

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Click: The Church’s One Foundation