The Irrelevant Church

So I'm a college senior in the midst of a world which is changing before my eyes. Many scholars debate now about the current philosophical, sociological, economic, and scientific shifts which are happening. In the Western world, a sharp decline in Christianity has been experienced since the birth of the modern age.

While skeptics might claim that it's simply science making the world more rational and understandable, I would argue something different. I believe that Christianity has experienced such a sharp decline because it's no longer relevant to us Westerners. Clearly, there is an explosion of Christianity in Asia and Africa which would point away from the Modern extinction of religion.

The issue I see is that my generation and similar generations before me are starved to see a relevant strand of Christianity. Christianity has been so consumed by theological debate and political theory that it no longer shows us that God is good anymore. Indeed, two world wars, the dropping of the A-Bomb, genocides, global poverty, AIDS, and natural disasters can lead many people to ask, "Is God really good? Is He even around?"

I believe God is in an active work of rescuing mankind. I believe Christ is the hope of all mankind. But I also believe that God has one main plan of getting His work done: us. The Gospels say that Jesus would look out upon the crowds of the poor and the oppressed and have compassion on them. But few people in the West see the Body of Christ reflecting that. The first Christians led this contagious lifestyle of actively working to create a better world, a world they called "the kingdom of God."

Now most Westerns create bigger and better Churches. Perhaps thats why our Christianity is declining while other parts of the globe are experiencing exponential growth: they are seeing the body of Christ as work.

To be relevant to my generation today, the Church has to stop talking and start walking. We need to see the Church lead out in the fight against AIDS, against poverty, against hunger, against injustice. I believe in Christ and I believe in the Church. I just feel like maybe we should bring it back to the old school. Before the mega-churches. Before the Moral Right. Before Christendom. Back when bringing love, beauty, grace, truth, and forgiveness to hurting people was foundations to the Way.

So let us all keep it Old School.