The Church is losing influence in this country because we spend too much time either shining our shields or fighting each other.
If you watch TV or read the papers, you may have noticed a vocal new movement among some religious liberals. Perhaps you’ve seen the television commercials where single mothers, gay couples, and others are literally ejected from their church pews by the push of a button. At the end of the ad, viewers are invited to visit a site called “Rejection Hurts” to share their own stories of being rejected by churches.
It’s not the Bible-believing conservatives that are ruining the church and causing the divisions. It’s the liberals who preach a social gospel and not the Bible that might be the cause of the Church’s downfall.
The truth is that the United Church of Christ — along with many liberal denominations — has suffered an alarming loss of members in recent years. Ironically, as they’ve become more “inclusive,” more and more members have left. As Jim Tonkowich comments, “It is not surprising that the head of a denomination that has lost over 40 percent of its members should blame outside forces for its plight rather than examine its own mistakes. Liberal theology has failed for the UCC and for all mainline churches. IRD reports about that. But we [conservatives] did not cause it.”
I’m proud to say that I am a member of a Bible-believing Southern Baptist church.
