Some people are labeling the lull and low in-church attendance as a great departure. There is a departure from people attending in-person worship service, especially during, and now after, the COVID virus pandemic. Further, there is a departure of pastors from the pulpit, as a result of the stress and pressure that exponentially increased during the pandemic.
There are others who want to be out front to declare the death of the church or organized religion, in particular Christianity in the United States of America.
To be honest, throughout the last two thousand years there have been peaks and valleys concerning church attendance and commitment to the Christian church for various reasons. I personally don’t think these current prognosticators of doom for the church have any more merit than other prognosticators who have arisen throughout history.
People of faith will still carry on the great legacy of this faith, as well as other faiths.
Yet, I was startled by a disturbing reality reported by WordsRated Research Data and Analytics Group from their 2022 study. A recent article stated that over 50 percent of Americans have not read a book in the past year.
This is disturbing on a number of levels and is just one indicator about what’s up with the Church?
If over 50 percent of people are not reading books, then it stands to reason that many in that group are not taking time to do in-depth research, study and informed analysis of different subjects.
How does that affect religion, you ask? It affects religion because if many people are not reading books, then, they certainly are not reading their Bibles, other than rehearsing their favorite text or verse of scripture in the Bible. But intentioned study is not occurring.
That also means people are not, as it says in the letter of Timothy, “studying to show their selves approved of God,” and as Jesus stated in the gospels, “loving the Lord with all their heart, soul, strength and MIND.” This means many people are not reading and researching through commentaries, religious articles and Christian books by Christian authors like Max Lucado and others, who exegete biblical texts to inspire faith in God.
It also speaks to how many who attend church do not come to church to learn anything but to have what they already think about faith, and believe about God and the religion, reaffirmed.
I once had a former member who told me, “Reverend, I don’t come to church to learn anything…” This member only came to feel good about what he already believed or thought he knew about the faith in Jesus Christ.
Our society is being pushed and propelled by corporations to move from print media to digital media and video fascination. These new technological tools of convenience can be useful but are practically useless for in-depth research and study. People with a YouTube video and a slick marketing angle can attract thousands of followers and gain lucrative incomes by saying just about anything without being fact checked for their accuracy.
We as a nation and world witnessed this travesty during the height of the pandemic, where internet physicians who never studied the complexities of metabolism nor the propensities of medication were spouting disturbing and erroneous ideas about the Coronavirus and, in particular, the vaccine.
The church has long been a victim of uninformed scattered opinions by pseudo theologians who promote fear in order to gain followers.
And with the rise of the internet and podcasts, more and more social media ministers have arisen who have never darkened the door of a seminary but are spouting inaccurate information about the Bible, faith, God and theology based on nothing more than their uninformed opinions. I will delve into the misinterpretation of the book of Revelations in another article, because it is in heavy rotation by the end of the world prognosticators.
Regrettably, the people who follow them are not reading research that has documentation to fact check the media ministers. Because many are only seeking to reaffirm a feeling or corroborate what they already heard and believe, they will take the fear theology as gospel truth.
What’s up with the Church? Churches are still battling the same issues that plagued the North African beginnings of the faith when Europeans created their own version of the faith in Jesus of Nazareth.
The choice we face in this 21st century is the same that was faced in the 1st century, and that is Culture or Christ.
Unfortunately, in many contexts, Culture rules out over Christ and the cause that the historical Jesus lived, died and was resurrected for.
What’s up with the Church? One issue is the diminishing desire to study, to be well read, and to take time to do actual research, which leads to more and more people who don’t claim the faith to have their beliefs challenged and expanded but who only want to feel good about what little they actually think they know about the faith. That is, people are not reading books unless it is a book about “how to get rich in one year.”
While the present trend is disturbing, and if you are not disturbed by the fact that over 50 percent of Americans have not read a book in the past year, just remember there is a following to QAnon, Fascism and the 45th President, who stated he “loves the poorly educated.”
These are disturbing realities, but I am still encouraged because just as church attendance has ebbed and waned over the centuries, reality TV, social media trends and video prognosticators will probably become footnotes in history.
Yet the vigilantes who value the written text of every discipline must not waver or back up in promoting the wealth of research that has been vouchsafed to us from those who did the work. This is especially true when we discuss next week’s subject, “Is America Really a Christian Nation.”
I close with James Russell Lowell who wrote,
“Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne-
Yet the scaffold sways the future and beyond the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.”
Rev. Dr. John E. Jackson, Sr. is the Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ-Gary, 1276 W. 20th Ave. in Gary. “We are not just another church but we are a culturally conscious, Christ-centered church, committed to the community; we are unashamedly Black and unapologetically Christian.” Contact the church by email at [email protected] or by phone at 219-944-0500.
Rev. John E. Jackson
Rev. Dr. John E. Jackson, Sr. is the Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ-Gary, 1276 W. 20th Ave. in Gary. “We are not just another church but we are a culturally conscious, Christ-centered church, committed to the community; we are unashamedly Black and unapologetically Christian.”
