This morning as I drove to work, the breaking news on a local radio talk show was all about the decline of Christianity in the USA. One of the hosts was surprised by a new survey which finds 15% of all Americans identify with no church or any religion. Among Americans aged 18 - 28, the number of unaffiliated people rises to 22%.
"If those numbers grow among the next generation, that will be a huge worry," one host commented. The other replied that only religious leaders will worry because most Americans have lost their faith in "organized religion" (that is, the church.)
There's no doubt that agnosticism and bad behavior are fashionable in these United States. And I strongly suspect the percentages in that survey are accurate. But is this the Beginning of the End for Christianity in America? Is the Church of Jesus Christ on its way out?
You might be surprised that on other occasions in American history, the problem has been worse. Dr. J Edwin Orr has documented that just after the Revolutionary War, Christianity was already on the skids in the American states. Bars and taverns dramatically outnumbered churches. Profanity and violence were widespread, drunkenness was epidemic, and women were afraid to go out at night because of the rising level of crime and violence. Pregnancy outside of marriage was a serious problem. And churches were rapidly losing ground. The typical church had seen no young people join in decades. One year they couldn't find a single Christian at Harvard, and only two could be found at Princeton. And both those schools had been established by churches to train Christian pastors!
Not surprisingly, many congregations were shutting their doors, clergymen were finding other jobs, denominations were shrinking. Thomas Paine commented that the church would be gone in thirty years, and many religious leaders agreed.
Things came to a head in 1794 when a Baptist pastor named Isaac Backus sent an urgent appeal to pastors of every denomination, pleading for orchestrated, fervent prayer among the people of God. Many of those pastors must have seen the writing on the wall, because they responded and desperately called their churches to pray for revival. Many congregations set aside the first Monday of every month and began to pray for a mighty wind of the Spirit to sweep American churches.
What finally happened is known today as the Second Great Awakening. It scorched the nation from the coasts to the plains, and New Testament faith was firmly reestablished in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. God breathed his holy breath into the dying embers of faith across the land, and churches caught fire once again.
The Christian Faith has always advanced in cycles. We're in a downturn at the moment, a serious problem. But when enough of us recognize the signs of the times and begin to pray through tears to a God who wants to send a spiritual awakening, He will do just that. Are you praying yet?
Note: Dr. Orr's complete message can be found at http://www.pastornet.net.au/renewal/journal1/orr.html
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