Church in America; A Thing of the Past

Not too many years ago there were 4-5 churches in every small town all over this country.  In those churches almost ALL Americans heard the 10 commandments and heard that Jesus was the only way and that the fear of The Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Those people also would have heard stories about God being the creator of all that we see and heard stories about Noah's flood and the soon return of Christ to set up His kingdom on earth.

Today?....not so much.

Today most Americans believe that evolution and a big band created all that we are and all that we see.  They don't believe there is a creator that they will ultimately have to answer for and they certainly don't want to be told any 10 commandments since they believe they were made up by men and are simply optional.

The churches of America and now sitting in mothballs by the thousands.  The lights are turned off, they hymns aren't being played and those churches that are still open are housed by older people and are being forced to merge with other churches just to keep a few folks in the pews on any given Sunday.

For a decade and more, Govans Presbyterian Church and Brown Memorial Woodbrook Presbyterian Church have labored in the manner of many mainline Protestant congregations: Working ever harder to provide spiritual resources for dwindling number of congregants.

Govans, on York Road in North Baltimore, has been hosting its Sunday night dinners for the poor and helping lead GEDCO, the social service organization it co-founded in 1984.

Brown Memorial Woodbrook, about two miles from Govans on North Charles Street, has been running its busy Sunday school and community garden and working on LGBT equality and other social justice issues.

But with attendance stagnating, maintenance costs rising and the population of Christians from which to draw shrinking, the two have decided to join forces. If the Baltimore Presbytery gives its approval next month, they’ll become one congregation before the end of the year, bringing more than 280 worshippers and 230 years of history together under one roof.

The merger would be the latest example of an increasingly common phenomenon: faith leaders closing or consolidating houses of worship as a way of adjusting to a culture that has grown less hospitable to their mission.

The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland has closed a net eight churches since 2007 and plans to shutter one more — 174-year-old St. John’s Episcopal Church in Charles Village — if the congregation can’t present a feasible financial plan by January.

Today’s faith leaders must compete with everything from youth soccer and pro football games to shopping at the mall.

“When I was growing up in what I call the salad days of the 1950s and early 1960s, the question in the neighborhood was ‘What church do you go to?’” Webster says.

“Now it’s, ‘Why do you go to church?’”

“We no longer live in Christendom. We really have to accept that it's a thing of the past.”

Here:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-religious-consolidations-20171010-htmlstory.html

I love Dr. Jeffress' word picture on how a building implodes.  First there is a series of explosions which take out the foundations of the building...then a pause of a few seconds....then the entire building comes crashing down on top of itself.

He claims that America is living in the 'pause period'.  Our foundations have already been exploded...and now we are just waiting for the whole nation to come crashing down.

We have no idea how long those seconds might be...but rest assured, our God WILL NOT BE MOCKED!  Competing with football, soccer games and the shopping malls WILL NOT LAST forever.

Amen!  Even so, Come Lord Jesus!