Showing Our Faith By Our Actions

Some time ago, I was visiting with a retired church growth consultant with the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. I was bemoaning the research that predicted that, by 2050, half of the churches in the United States would be closed. After listening to me, he surprised me with his response, “That is not necessarily a bad thing,” he mused. “Because only the real Christians will be in the churches; and our society will get to see what a real Christian looks like.” 

  After giving some thought to my friend’s assessment of the American religious landscape, I agree that it is not a bad thing at all. The churches that practice segregation and lean towards racism and white supremacy will, most likely, be  the ones to close their doors. The reason: the younger generation sees the obvious inconsistency between what we say and how we act; and they are not impressed. My own children have given me a picture of the inconsistencies that their generation see in the Church. They see homophobic, xenophobic, and racist attitudes permeating the church within our denomination. They see the American flag flying over the Christian flag on some church campuses, and they remark, “Doesn’t the Ten Commandments say something about, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”? I got brave enough, temporarily, to address this with a deacon whose church had the American flag flying over the Christian flag pointing out this Commandment. His response? “I don’t see anything wrong with it myself.” The obvious inconsistency is some white nationalist Christians say they believe the teachings of Holy Scripture and then act the opposite. The younger generation has taken note and, by and large, abandoned the Church looking for something more real.

On the positive side, some churches are loving people like Jesus taught us to love, and the young people are being drawn to these churches. So, there is hope! Christianity is still alive and well in some parts of our country.

  Let us hope that the peaceful demonstrations taking place in our country against racism and injustice will give us pause and invite deeper analysis of self and the Church. May we realize that consistency between what we say and how we act is a very important part of our witness as a Christian.

Starting and Staying with Jesus,

Ron McCaskill