June 16-17 - Psalm 12:1

 

Help, O Lord, for there is

no longer anyone who is godly;

the faithful have disappeared

from humankind.

Psalm 12:1

 

Do you ever feel like the sentiment in that verse?

 

I’d agree that the percentage of the faithful seems to be decreasing. And it’s shocking. And sad.

 

Recently a local church was given a demographic study. In a five mile radius of their church, only about 9% of people attended church somewhat regularly. Only 9%! In Waxhaw! It’s shocking. And very, very sad.

 

But lest you get too discouraged, it matters which “studies” you listen to. Other “studies” suggest that the number of committed Christians has remained the same throughout the last few generations.

 

What does that mean?

 

There used to be a cultural “advantage” to going to church. “Everybody” did it. And if you were to be “anybody,” you needed to be at church. If you were to be viewed as a good person, you needed to be at church. In America, there was a time when the world was empty on Sunday morning because “everybody” was in church. So even in the midst of “good” congregations, there were a lot of “cultural Christians.” They were there because it was the right thing to do.

 

Now, it’s different. The world doesn’t care if you’re Christian. (In fact, sometimes the world mocks you for it.) When I first came to Spirit of Joy, Wednesday was a great night for church programming because it was “church night.” Schools, teams, and clubs didn’t schedule on Wednesdays. That was only fourteen years ago. Now not only has “church night” disappear in the South, so has any sanctity for Sunday morning. Now there’s a disincentive to be at church on Wednesdays or Sundays. And the once-incentivized “cultural Christians” are now drifting. But the faithful core is still here.

 

The Psalmist surely felt like “the faithful have disappeared.” Most pastors most days can be discouraged enough to feel the same way. But there is always a remnant. And the faithful core is still here!

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who is more sad

than discouraged;

too many are selling

their families to

a broken world

and are shocked

when they get

worldly results