WHAT ON EARTH IS GOD DOING IN THE CHURCH?

I meet monthly with a group of church leaders in which we have a presenter speak on a topic of interest to the group, which is then followed by some robust discussion. This year our theme has been “What On Earth Is God Doing In…” The presenter speaks from both Biblical and practical material to what God is doing in the topic of the day.

During May I will be speaking to the group on the theme “What On Earth Is God Doing in the Church?” There is an abundance of material on the theme, and I will probably share some of the ideas I present to them in future columns. For now, I have been reflecting on two pieces of information that I read recently about the church’s contemporary circumstance that serve as a starting point for me as to what God is doing in the church.

Some of the facts that research (from the Barna Group and others) reveals to us about the church in the United States can be quite alarming. I prefer to see the circumstances the church faces as challenges that the Lord can lead us through. Here are some of those facts:

• Since 1990 in the US, about 2,000 churches are planted each year, while 4,000 churches close each year.
• Since 1990 the US population has grown by 60.5 million people. If the average church plant weekly attendance stands at 1,000; we would have to plant 60,000 churches just to keep pace!
• Churches lose an estimated 2,765,000 people each year to nominalism and secularism.
• Only 21% of Americans attend religious services every week.
• Of the 6,500 languages in the world, 4,400 have NO portion of Scripture.
• Of the 16,000 people groups in the world, 6,600 of them are unreached.
• 1700 pastors left the ministry every month last year
• 50% of those entering the ministry will last in the ministry less than 5 years
• 7 churches started last year...every day!
• 11 churches closed last year...every day!
• Every second a person who does not know Christ dies. Every second! That is 86,400 every day
• 2.75 billion people in the world have never heard of Jesus

It is no wonder the church is on such a rough path when you consider the seven faith tribes identified by George Barna:

• Casual Christians — people who profess to be Christian but deny the power thereof. Two-thirds of all Americans represent "casual Christians."
• Captive Christians — those who walk the talk. They represent one-sixth of the adult population.
• Jewish people make up roughly 2 percent of the adult public.
• Mormons comprise slightly less than that, "though its adherents are strikingly unified in their ideology and practice."
• Pantheists (Buddhism, Hinduism, New Age, etc.) are also slightly less than 2 percent of the public.
• Muslims make up about one percent, but are "growing in number." [Two million of the six million Muslims are American converts to Islam.
• Skeptics — atheists or agnostics, nearly 11 percent strong, "are, in essence, religiously irreligious."

How do we reach these people when evidence suggests the church is on decline in America? It is true that the church is doing many good things and in some areas – such as church planting – the church is making progress. Yet overall, we are losing ground.

A group of Christian colleges that train people for ministry in both church and non-church vocations is taking a positive step in this regard. They are asking their administrators, faculty, staff, students, trustees, alumni, donors, and other constituents to “ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:38). They have taken up the motto “Just one more”; pray for just one more.

Jesus preceded his call for his disciples to pray by saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” That is still true, perhaps more true today than it has been. Yet, even though our Lord is the same, we have neglected his command to pray for workers. Will you and your church take up the challenge? Will you begin to pray daily, regularly for just one more?