Why Is Christianity losing in America?
By S. Michael Craven, Christian Post Guest Columnist – June 4, 2013
This is the question with which all serious Christians must wrestle. To think that Christianity is thriving in America simply ignores the obvious and overwhelming facts of our times. Much like the century preceding the Protestant Reformation and subsequently the Catholic Counter-Reformation, the church was in a dark and desperate period. In its general understanding and representation, Christianity had drifted from its mission and biblical foundations-and the results were devastating.
Similarly, the church in America today has also drifted from its biblical mission and the result has been a church largely divorced from its kingdom purposes and therefore increasingly irrelevant to people living in the real world. At the heart of our present dilemma is our diminished understanding of the gospel, namely the gospel of the kingdom. In reforming the church, the Reformers taught that Jesus-being the Son of God-was born, crucified, and rose again, and because of these facts, your sins can be forgiven. This was and no doubt remains “good news.” However, this summation could be drawn from Paul’s letters without ever reading the four books commonly known as the Gospels.
