Seed That Falls Upon the Rock

I have wondered over the last decade as to what type of Christians the evangelical church is producing. Now, the idea of pondering on this in a lot of contemporary, evangelical Christian circles would be deemed as "unloving" and "judgmental", and responded to with notions that "we all fall short and cannot measure up to God" (which, in essence, creates an image where God's perfection skews the graph so much that there is no distinction between sinner and saint). Indeed, it seems the mentality often becomes "let's get the short term gain (afterall, might not Christ be coming soon) and not worry about the long term effect". "I mean, who after becoming a Christian would turn away completely and, besides, they have their entire lives to grow in Christ - they'll catch on eventually."

Then I stumbled onto this article in Christianity Today -http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/november/27.40.html?start=5

This article talks about how 20-30 somethings are leaving the church at higher rates than normal. I can't help but wonder whether or not part of the reason is that a lack of discipleship and Christian education in the church for the sake of evangelism and ministry (and wanting to make people feel good about themselves) produces Christians similar to those described in the Parable of the Sower; where the seed fell among the rock, grew up, and then withered away (they had no foundation). Hardcore evangelical Christianity doesn’t seem willing in some cases to dial back its outreach and ministries to establish a wholistic and balanced church. The notion of doing so seems even blasphemous, but when Christian education and discipleship suffer, we don’t produce generational Christians. Thus, those who come to Christ in what has tended to become a more emotional based conversion rather than a theological based conversion, may find it difficult to maintain a faith that is based on emotion rather than fact, and a faith that is propogated only to the point of conversion and not to the point of sanctification. A faith that becomes a point in time rather than a journey. With no foundation, seed that falls upon the rock grows quickly and dies.

Has evangelical Christianity tended to throw the theological baby out with the unemotion belief in God for the sake of being seeker sensitive to a culture that makes decisions based more on emotion than fact.

Why do churches not see how the pendulum of error has swung from the primarily inwardly focused church to the primarily outwardly focused church? Where is the balance?

The Chief End of Man - To Love the Poor & Needy and Evangelize Them Forever

I heard a sermon this past Sunday where the pastor is going through Catechisms, Covenants, and Confessions. It was very refreshing as today's evangelical church has tended to become all about emotion and evangelism. Not that I believe the Westminster Confession to be all encompassing or infallible, but I do believe there is a lot of truth in its statement that the chief end of man is "To glorify God and enjoy Him forever." Yet today's evangelical church seems at least in practice to turn this statement into the chief end of man being "To love the poor and needy and evangelize them forever." I see more and more of a tendency for evangelical Christianity to become an end in itself; that notions of having a holistic church take a back seat to ministry and evangelism - enough so to where church resemble social organizations more than a church, but would deny that this is so. It just seems like the pendulum has swung in a lot of cases from a completely inwardly focused church during the 70's to a completely outwardly focused church in the 00's. Hence the need for truly balanced, holistic, and properly faith centered beliefs that guide the church as to what its central behavior should emulate and encapsulate. Basically, foundational truths upon which the church should base its operations.

I just wonder sometimes if evangelism and ministry have sometimes become a sort of false asceticism whereby those who purport it do so at the cost of having a balanced church and as another means to earn their salvation.