For church leaders

Here is my review of, and response to, “Writing on the Wall: The Future of the Church and its Mission” by Ed Stetzer, published in the Spring 2008 issue of Enrichment. The Enrichment Journal is a publication of the Assemblies of God and can be found online.

Ed begins the article by offering his observations concerning the condition of the church in North America. The following quotes sum up his observations.
“In North America the church is in decline.”
“The North American church is losing its influence in society and culture.”
“In the current culture, secular spirituality has replaced the church…As leaders we must acknowledge the fact that the masses have decided that our churches do not have the answers to their spiritual questions.”
“The bigger issue is that the practice of Christianity is repelling people from the church.”
An earlier statement in his article clearly implies that, in the author’s opinion, many have rejected the church, not because they are rebellious sinners disinterested in worshiping and serving God but because the church has failed them in some way.

Following his observations and conclusion that the church is experiencing symptoms of spiritual sickness, he offers his diagnosis of the malady.

“I conclude that the church has lost its influence because it has forgotten its mission.”
“The church has lost confidence in the Gospel.”

This second statement is the main point of the article and obviously the author’s main concern. While we don’t find a detailed definition of “the gospel” the heart of it is the message about “a Savior who died on a cross in our place”. His meaning is further clarified by his citing of Luke 24:47: “Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations.”

His suggestion that the church has “lost confidence” in the gospel should alarm us all! What he is suggesting, in a somewhat diplomatic way, is that we have redefined Christianity by neglecting, if not outright denying, the very essence of the faith! Consider the following quotes:
“The gospel is about a Savior who died on a cross in our place. These are facts…and they are usually unpalatable to our neighbors. If we do not have confidence in them, then we do not have true faith.” (emphasis mine)
“After all, we must remove roadblocks that keep people from getting to Jesus. But…if strategies and systems replace the core of the gospel, its meaning and power will be lost.” (emphasis mine)
“In an incredible twist of irony, while trying to reach a lost world, many mainline denominations lost their beliefs.” (emphasis mine)
“Herein lies the real danger. We must not replace our confidence in the power of the gospel with a confidence in our own methods and strategies.”

The author does stress the need to be culturally relevant. He speaks of not “pining for methods that no longer work”, and the need to remove cultural roadblocks that hinder evangelism but his main concern is that the church is already, not just in danger of, becoming biblically unfaithful.

I find Ed’s diagnosis of the church’s malady as the loss of confidence in the gospel to be very insightful. It is also very alarming. The suggestion that the evangelical church is suffering from a loss of confidence in the gospel should be understood as a severe indictment. It is a somewhat milder, or perhaps more diplomatic way of saying that we have lost faith in the gospel. If Ed’s diagnosis is correct we need to examine our hearts
and ask ourselves if we can stand with Paul and say, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…”
We should obviously try to remove stumbling blocks that stand in the way of people coming to Christ but often the gospel itself – the message that Christ death on the cross was the remedy for our sin – is the stumbling block: One we dare not touch!