Do you think that Church is becoming irrelevant?

How I personally think we should attempt to answer the question is by watching for signs. And, I would say there are five of them that, to me, could determine Church’s irrelevance today. 

When The notion of Moral Authority becomes debatable 

The notion of morality is important to every human and in any society around the world. Being good or evil is dependent on values humans hold, as individuals and communities.

With the Church born in the first century, the idea of evil and good has been more understood based on Scripture. The foundation of all this has been since: “all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.” (Romans 3: 23) What this points out to is that we humans, on our own, cannot be good and morally sound. We are justified by God’s grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ alone (Romans 3: 24).

The sense of morality, for Christians, is grounded in the following:

• The Ten Commandments.
• Jesus’ affirmation of the Ten commandments in the four gospels.
• The letters of Paul to the Church in Asia Minor.

When we think that the Bible does not have much to say on current issues

This brings to mind a few things. First, we are taking God out of the picture. Second, we question the authority of the Bible as God’s Word.

On a personal level, we, as individuals, struggle with the following: How seriously should I use the Bible to help me with my everyday living? Should I trust the Bible as the source of sound guidance for decision making and good judgment in my way of life?

When The Church looks like a House Split Against Itself

The Christian Church is one of the most divided religions in the entire human history. In about over 1000 years in the Church’s history, there have been countless denominations started as a result of disagreements on a variety of issues. It is likely divisions within the Christian Church to continue happening as a result of our rapidly changing culture.

Denominations are a visible sign that points out that we, as Christians, are a very split house. Jesus said once: “and if a house is divided against itself, it will not be able to stand.” (Mark 3: 25, ESV)

When authentic life transformation stories aren’t celebrated

Christianity, from the beginning, should always be about witnessing. This consists of sharing about a personal assurance of salvation one has experienced through faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus, Himself, said it to the disciples in Acts 1: 8 that they would become His witnesses locally and globally. Their new way of life is all about telling others the authentic life transformation they have received as a gift from God through Jesus Christ.

The question today is do we have stories of authentic life transformation to share with others? Or if we have them, do we share them in our Church? Who, in your Church, has made Jesus Christ his or her Lord and Savior?

If there are no stories about how Jesus Christ has been literally changing people’s lives, what then do we need Church for?    

When our focus has shifted from personal transformation to institutional transformation

Cleary and as we see it in the Bible, Jesus came to save the lost soul (Matthew 18:11, Luke 19:10). Not a lost or dying institution. Also, when Jesus spoke for the first time about Church, He was talking about people, not a program or an institution. That is His focus was and will always be about people and personal transformation.

Back to Acts 1 and specifically based on verse 8, Jesus was addressing the people to become His witnesses to other people. As described earlier, you will only witness at what you’ve experienced to other people.

The bottom line is that the Church is truly you. 

• Irrelevance of the Church closely depends on how you live out your faith. Living as a Christian calls us to be relevant.
• And the way we can do it is by avoiding the marks of irrelevance as described above.
• Be a witness of Jesus Christ and the world around you will also in turn be transformed.

Relevance of Church begins with you and please share these words of encouragement with someone else. 

Do you think the Church is irrelevant? Please, leave me a comment with one reason why you think so. Thank you!