History of the Church II: Week 17

Challenges of the New Millennium  At the midway point of the 2 nd decade in the 21 st century, three realities face the Church.  The Church in the West is increasing becoming more secular.  The base of power in the Church has shifted South and East.  The rise of Islam has threatened not only the political structure of the world but also the Church.  Let’s look at each this individually.

Challenges of the New Millennium  As Ronald Reagan was trying to get his agenda passed in 1981, a baby- faced student intern from the University of Georgia was soaking in all he could.  By 1993, Ralph Reed was the head of the Christian Coalition, a political action group founded by televangelist Pat Robertson.  Christian Coalition’s research showed two trends in American culture:  In the last thirty years prior to 1993, America had shifted from a society with traditional values to a society with secular values.  Mainstream churches which tried to change with the culture lost members while churches remained traditional gained members.

Challenges of the New Millennium  Historians call the time period from the mid-1990’s to the present the Age of Self.  Most Americans embrace this individualism but unlike the past, the traditional value system has been discarded.  Sociologists call this the post-modernist view.  In post-modernism, people view themselves as extremely “spiritual” but they want no part of “organized” religion.  They want to experience life but increasingly in America this means outside of formal religion.

Challenges of the New Millennium  The driver of this post-modern view is the entertainment industry which includes movies, social media and games.  This had led to an increasing divided nation which individually rules.  Within the church followers have gone away from the mega churches and increasingly do not want to be associated with denominations.  There is no allegiance to a church or group so they tend to move from church to church whenever they feel like it.  This leads to a pluralistic society where cooperation NOT conversion is stressed.

Challenges of the New Millennium  Simon Zhao was a Chinese pastor who led his church during the Mao Tse- tung communist era.  Convicted of spreading Christianity in the 1950’s, he was sentenced to 40 years of hard labor.  Years later he recalled he would face west at night and pray that God would lift up a new generation.  Released from prison in 1983, he soon was taken up by the underground church and saw firsthand the answer to his prayer.  When he died in 2003, estimates say China had 200 million believers.

Challenges of the New Millennium  China is part of what is now called “the global South”.  Professor Phillip Jenkins in 2002 said contemporary Christianity had shifted “south” or what we used to call the “Third World”.  480 million in Latin America, 360 million in Africa, 313 million in Asia compared to just 260 million in North America.  In Africa alone, 46% of the population is Christian and could grow to 60% by  Korea now sends more missionaries to North America than the U.S. sends to Asia.

Challenges of the New Millennium  With the growing threat of Islam, the Church is now being persecuted more than at anytime in its history.  There have been more Christians executed since 1950 than all of the combined executions in world history.  Isis is killing Christians at an alarming rate just since 2010 when the U.S. pulled out of Iraq.  However, the Church in the Middle East is growing faster than at anytime since Muhammad’s death.

Challenges of the New Millennium  Why is the Church growing so much in other parts of the world?  A resurgence of doing what the Church did early in first century: building relationships with both believers and non-believers.  The Church in the “global south” is more relational and less dependent on material goods.  So the fields right here in America are ripe and ready to be harvested.  Are you ready to harvest?