The Baptist Digest

A New Day For Christianity In America?

April 2010

Is it possible to see America turned back to God? Of course it is possible. But we must come to the place where we fully understand that all of our best efforts will never make this happen.

We seem to believe that if we put the right elements together we will see success. Put together the right kind of music, the proper use of creative media, certain styles of preaching, etc., and you expect to grow. In fact, we do see an entrepreneurial trend that is producing mega-churches across America. This “big box” approach is working in many places. Yet, even with the growth of these large churches, Christianity is declining in America. That decline may be partially explained by the fact that the growth of many mega-churches is primarily from transfer growth not baptism growth as a number of studies have shown.

Church planting is often suggested as another way to reverse the downward trends in American Christianity. I agree that we need to plant more and more churches. Yet, even with a huge emphasis on church planting in our denomination and other evangelical groups, we close almost the same number of churches as we start each year.  One statistic I saw recently suggests that we need to start ten times more churches than we do each year to even keep up with population growth in America.

Let’s face facts. We can’t do it. But don’t lose heart; God can. We need to admit our inability in the deepest part of our hearts. We are frequently tempted to cling to the notion that we can somehow figure it out on our own. If only we work harder, witness more, and plant more churches, surely we will bring a new day for Christianity in America. But we are wrong!!

We must do what generations before us have done. We must fall on our faces and repent of our pride and self-sufficiency. We must seek the face and heart of God. Our KNCSB president, Ron Pracht, is preparing and sending out a letter to our pastors urging them to commit themselves and their churches to serious prayer for revival and awakening in our two-state convention and our nation. A copy of that letter is found on page four. Are you ready?

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I thought you might like this column I read at baptistdigest.com. "A New Day For Christianity In America?" Is it possible to see America turned back to God? Of course it is possible. But we must come to the place where we fully understand that all of our best efforts will never make this happen. You can read the rest here: http://www.baptistdigest.com/archive/column/a_new_day_for_christianity_in_america/