Reggie McNeal, author and director of leadership development for S. Carolina Baptist convention writes:
The current church culture in North America is on life support. It is living off the work, money, and energy of previous generations from a previous world order.
Reggie is not a lone voice. George Barna, a Christian researcher, author and pollster says emphatically,
It is the end of the church as we know it.” In other words, “If we build it, they won’t come.
These Christian leaders are merely echoing what those in the world have known for a long time. Yale Professor of Religious Studies Louis Dupre says:
The West appears to have said its farewell to a Christian culture … Christianity has become a historical factor subservient to a secular culture rather than functioning as the creative power it once was.
What would make these guys say such dire things about the church? What do they mean that the church is on life support, or that it’s the end of the church as we know it, or that the church is just a historical factor? It’s because of two very significant realizations that are examined in this message.