The church’s challenges are global

[Son_of_Niall]

Secularizing societies. Weakening churches. Ideological divisions. Harried pastors. Faithful efforts amid hard challenges.

It is amazing to travel 8000 miles and discover that the challenges facing Christianity in one place are pretty similar to the challenges back home. That is pretty much what I found during two weeks of lectures and sermons across New Zealand.

Here are four overlapping challenges in New Zealand and the US, based on my very preliminary observations:

• See more at: davidgushee.religionnews.com/2015/08/11/the-churchs-challenges-are-global-four-lessons-i-learned-in-new-zealand/?utm_content=buffere8d69&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer#sthash.eMi2chMl.dpuf

 

[frangiuliano115]

Ditto for Europe.

God bless us
Fran

 

[frangiuliano115]

P.S.

We’re doing too little, too late.

 

[myway]

P.S.

We’re doing too little, too late.

Why do you think it is too late?

 

[frangiuliano115]

Why do you think it is too late?

I think it’s too late because not only has the secular world taken over the majority of the population (except for Africa and the Phillipines and maybe other countries I don’t know about) but we are actually at a persecution stage. Christians are ridiculed, put under foot and killed every day. No need to look at past martyers, we have plenty modern day martyers.

Abortion, same sex marriage, divorce, adoption by same sex couples, adultry, euthanasia, etc. are all an accepted part of our society. Back 40 years or so ago when the advocates of the above were beginning their assault on the society of that time, we just sat back and relaxed because it seemed impossible that they could possibly change our entrenched, christian world.

So I’m not saying to quit the fight, but it should have started 40 years ago. How do you go back to how it used to be??

Our churches have become weaker because we’ve concentrated on the Love of God (not that I disagree that God loves us) and have lost 1 or 2 generations to this idea, having forgotten that God is also a Just God so that the teaching of our faith has become fluff and not of substance.

Because of the above we also have less men going into seminaries and thus our pastors are harried with not enough time and they can barely do the necessary rites and liturgies because often they are running more than one church or a church has closed and too many people move to the next one down the way.

So, yes, I think it’s too late and must now try to recoop. I don’t know how that could be done.

God bless you
Fran

 

[myway]

I think America lost part of its battle when they took prayer out of the public schools.

 

[frangiuliano115]

I think America lost part of its battle when they took prayer out of the public schools.

AMEN!

Couldn’t agree more. And God has been taken out of everything ever since then.

God bless you
Fran