Sublime

We Christians are in the mess. This is vitally important. Not much good will happen when we move toward the mess if we don’t get this right. We don’t need to drive across town to find it. We don’t need to visit our unchurched neighbors across the street to encounter it. We need only look at our own hearts, our own families, our own lives. If we

My friend, the opportunity has come. The need is here. We live in a post-Christian culture proudly riding a landslide away from the truth. And swept in the landslide are millions—billions—of people speeding toward a Christless eternity.

Consistent, committed attenders used to go to church three times a week. Now, according to experts like Thom Rainer, it’s approximately three times a month. In some places, twice a month (not twice a Sunday) is considered the new normal.

This has profound implications for the way we do everything in church, from the strength of our relationships, to

Now Orlando has the same percentage of evangelicals as New York City and Seattle2 as 42 percent3 (roughly 2 million people) of our metropolitan area have stopped attending church.

The data also leads us to believe that the more educated a person is, the more likely they are to see social value in religion, believe in institutions, and have higher levels of interpersonal trust.

Andy Stanley, Johnny Carson, Howard Hendricks, Ronald Reagan, Billy Graham,

Lots of people can preach the gospel better than you; but nobody can preach a better gospel than you if yours is the true one. We are all on level ground at the foot of the cross. The question is, can you talk about it plainly and personally? This is a necessity for every disciple of Christ, so there must be a gift of teaching required for pastors

The gospel well preached and applied will make ministry messy. Things will change. I often think of it like the beating of a rug—you’re gonna get a lot of dust in the air. There will be a thick cloud. The gospel stirs stuff up. But our God is not an author of confusion. So as things get messy, while the gospel is creating a safe space for sins,

Particularly among evangelicals, there is more danger of dechurching on the right than on the left.