Christianity in America
Published by Matt Glover April 15th, 2006 in Articles of Interest, Emerging Missional ChurchA fairly damning, but surprisingly honest, article appears in todays Age newspaper about the state of Christianity in the USA. Much of Australian culture is shaped by what happens in the USA, but interestingly the ‘religious’ stuff is ignored almost entirely. It seems your average American will say they’re a Christian, whilst your average Australian would say they are spirritual, but have ‘no religion’.
This paragraph I found very interesting:
The one that frightens me most comes from the sprawling megachurches. Its deviation is subtle - most of what gets preached in these palaces isn’t loony at all but disturbingly conventional, with pastors focusing relentlessly on individual needs. Their goal is to service consumers - not communities but individuals, those who feel the need for some spirituality in their (or their children’s) lives. The result is a comfortable, suburban faith.
I wonder what would happen if these churches preached the story of Jesus instead of self-help stuff. Would numbers go down? Probably. Would they struggle financially? Probably. Would some churches close and be cast as irrelevant? Most definately.
It makes me think that some of the churches that are struggling in Australia may not be that irrelevant after all. Maybe they are more faithful than they are given credit for…
Anyway, read the whole article here.
If any Americans read this, let us know if what is written in the article is close to the reality that you see.
I read this article- it was really down to earth.
I’m not American, but I was close friends with Americans from a number of different states, on the missionfield.
Though we are generalizing, I can say that I have seen that Ben Franklin is held with special revere - one of the “Christian” fore-fathers. I have seen an obsesion with self-help, the prayer of Jabez book one example.
I think that the problem lies in not looking at the Gospels overly much, but at the Old Testament more, following the law, not grace.
Of course, I know many Americans who are not like this, who have a strong and real faith. But institutionally, it’s a different story.
I liked the way that this article layed down the basic ideas of Christianity, - maybe someone will read it and not higlight the glaring hypocracy, but rather see the real thing.
thanks for mentioning this article Matt!