Why Christian Faith Leaders Do Not Understand Decline in Faith Among Americans
A recent Gallup Poll shows that faith in God by Americans, is apparently at an all-time low. https://www.foxnews.com/us/us-religious-leaders-explain-why-faith-god-hit-lowest-level-ever-say-covid-made-worse
Four faith “leaders” from four different denominations suggested a number of different reasons for declining faith in Americans especially among those between the ages of 18–29 years.
One leader said people have no time to stop and contemplate spiritual matters. A second leader said people are lacking space and time, even though they are searching for answers to bigger questions. A third leader said people were not brought up in the church with expectations of learning the meaning and purpose of life. A fourth leader blamed the deficiencies on the insufficiencies of children and youth ministries. Multiple generations are now missing connection with the church. Covid-19 was also blamed for the disconnection of people from church attendance and worship of God. Apologetics and church scandals, along with hypocrisy, also contributed to people drifting away from Christianity, according to other leaders polled.
If American Christian faith leaders opened their Bibles, their answers would be very different. In fact, they might discover Christ’s church has one Leader…Jesus Christ (Mt 23:10). They would also find the cause of the ebb and flow of faith, numerically, has a much simpler reason and remedy. They would denounce Gallup Polls as unbiblical and unhelpful. “Leaders” would not participate in judging the performance of the Holy Spirit in gathering the elect, redeemed people of God.
In cleaning up this mess, we begin at the end. In the end, God will have secured every person predestined to adoption as children to be included in His family for eternity (Rom 8:15, 23; Eph 1:4–5; 1 Jn 3:1). No one will have been plucked from His hand or separated from His love (Jn 10:28–29; Rom 8:35–39). The destructive end to the heavens and the earth will find Christ’s church, His bride, the Israel of God fully intact and safe in His presence (2 Pet 3:10–12). 100% saved and accounted for is something Gallup and Pew Research never tell you about because they are purveyors of fear and bad news.
Now, the process of gathering each member into the body of Christ must be acknowledged as an exclusive work of God (which is why we do not measure and judge it!), who deserves all the credit for the perfect work. The Holy Spirit is adding to Christ’s church one member at a time. The gathering process, simply put, looks like this…
First, a man of God, who was saved by this very process, studies the Bible for years and years. He is not a novice. He is tested by the church in the right handling of the Word (2 Tim 2:15). In other words, this man preaches accurately — what the Bible says — not other philosophies of men. This man believes the Bible, and he is burdened to preach and teach the Bible message to others (Jer 20:9; 1 Cor 9:16). This is because he is called of God to go and proclaim Christ (Col 1:28).
Second, the called man of God prays and ministers God’s Word (Acts 6:4). When the Spirit of God fills the man of God to preach the Word of God, then the children of God manifest in a demonstration of power by the Spirit, who causes the elect soul, who hears the Word, to be born again of God, evidenced by a faith in Christ from the heart. It is the life-giving Spirit implanting the seed of the Word through the spoken Word that manifests the life of God in the soul of man (Jn 6:63; Jas 1:21).
Third, this new, spiritual life is vital union with Christ (1 Jn 4:13), who indwells the regenerated soul (Gal 2:20). The Spirit of Christ abides in the sinner who has now been baptized into Christ, that is, into His body, His church (1 Cor 12:13).
Fourth, the work of the Spirit in the new creature is life-long sanctification or the conforming of one to the holiness of Christ Jesus our Lord. The Spirit and the Word brought the elect redeemed soul into the fold of Christ, and it is the Spirit and the Word who continue this work of washing and purification, leading to glorification at the resurrection of the body from the dead, on the last day, when Christ returns for His church in glory.
When leaders neglect the Word of truth, they invariably make excuses for the famine in the landscape of faith (Amos 8:11). They blame everything under heaven for the dearth of faith. “Leaders” in Christ’s church must be called to repentance and faith, themselves. The intimate connection between the faith handed down to all the saints and the famine for the Word must be acknowledged. Do you wish to see more people of faith in your family, your local church, your city, etc.? The one and only faith builder in every context is the Word of God, faithfully preached by men of God, who are filled with the Spirit of God. Everything else is an unbiblical alternative.
Let us pray, together, to the Lord of the harvest that He would reform His church, causing the repentance of “leaders” to turn from every worldly way to attain “church growth.” Jesus is building His church (Mt 16:18), and it would be our joy to see church leaders return to the Word of God, in order to learn these truths for themselves.
Let us also pray together to the Lord that with church leader repentance to pick up their Bibles and preach the Word that along with the reformation of the church there might be revival in our communities. Famine for God’s Word translates to the day of small things. Let us not despise the day in which we live and serve Christ but let us observe the sign of the times and trust Christ to remedy our spiritual maladies with more heat and more light from His Spirit and the Bible — that we might be found faithful in our generation and that our children might rise up and call us “blessed” — for God’s glory in so great and perfect a salvation.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
July 5, 2022
