CHRISTIANITY IN CRISIS!
How safe is Christianity
in your country or in your city? Do you think we Christians really make sense
to people who are living with us? Or just existing merely with its name adding very little or no value to us and to others? Christians have added their own definition to
Christianity to suit their existence for a comfortable and safe living. If
you closely follow the news from around the globe you would find that “Christianity
immediately started becoming irrelevant when irrelevancy started becoming
Christian.”. Every form of evil practices globally is getting legitimized
and is cascading down from European countries believed to be Christian nation.
We are blessed with myriads of Christian authors, books, articles,
blogs, speakers, tele-evangelist yet Christianity is in Crisis if you did not
know. You and I can refuse to accept and rubbish it, but the facts would
remain unaltered. Unless every Christian, Pastors and leaders fail
to realize it and try to sincerely act on it, it is possible that we would be
running quicksand very soon. “True Christianity is about
finding our relevance in God—not God finding His relevance in us.”. Ravi Zacharias in his book ‘Has Christianity failed
you’ quotes “Too many have so humanized God and deified man that we can
scarcely tell the difference anymore." And in 'Christianity today' magazine way back Cal Thomas quoted, “The problem in our culture .. isn’t the pornographers, or drug
dealers or criminals. It is the undisciplined, un-discipled, disobedient, and
biblically ignorant Church of Jesus Christ”. Mind, if Christianity isn’t transforming the lives of the
people, it isn’t relevant.
The
Bible warns us especially the leaders who are at the forefront and yet remain
non-relevant. Sadly, they will remain non-relevant till they face the judgement
and God had to disappoint by saying these powerful words, “Not
everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but
he who does the will of My Father in heaven,” He said. “Many will say to Me in
that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in
Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to
them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”
(Matthew 7:21-23). There is a big
chasm between the congregation and the Church leadership and Pastors.
Sermons are heavily sounded in many churches yet so dry and meaningless that it does not move the heart of the people at all who attend the church. The messages are non-relevant and sadly most of the leaders and pastors live in isolation. Our Church structure and set up usually promotes verbal monologue, where Pastors mostly never get to know the reality as they are used to only speaking and preaching from the lectern and never get an honest feedback, unless the Pastors are keenly interested to know and quantify the impact and transformation of lives, I am not referring to Pseudo-transformation. The early missionaries work was so revolutionary, that people listening to them were convinced about their sins and went running to altars sobbing and repenting and giving their lives to Jesus, which is almost rare today unfortunately. Leonard Ravenhill quotes in his book ‘Why revival tarries’ “Too many dead preachers are preaching too many dead sermons to too many dead congregation”.
In case you want to download for your relevant countries you may visit this website, and download the article which has great information to work towards. https://www.9marks.org/journal/missions-adding-wisdom-to-zeal/
Blessings,
David Raj.
Sermons are heavily sounded in many churches yet so dry and meaningless that it does not move the heart of the people at all who attend the church. The messages are non-relevant and sadly most of the leaders and pastors live in isolation. Our Church structure and set up usually promotes verbal monologue, where Pastors mostly never get to know the reality as they are used to only speaking and preaching from the lectern and never get an honest feedback, unless the Pastors are keenly interested to know and quantify the impact and transformation of lives, I am not referring to Pseudo-transformation. The early missionaries work was so revolutionary, that people listening to them were convinced about their sins and went running to altars sobbing and repenting and giving their lives to Jesus, which is almost rare today unfortunately. Leonard Ravenhill quotes in his book ‘Why revival tarries’ “Too many dead preachers are preaching too many dead sermons to too many dead congregation”.
I encourage you to visit the site I am enclosing below where the research and study of Churches and mission work in India is elaborated by Aubrey Sequeira in his journal book 9Marks journal Fall 2015. We may not agree with everything that it cites, that's okay! but if there is even one percent of truth in it, then we are responsible to seriously reconsider how we pose ourselves.
In case you want to download for your relevant countries you may visit this website, and download the article which has great information to work towards. https://www.9marks.org/journal/missions-adding-wisdom-to-zeal/
Blessings,
David Raj.
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