Challenges facing the Church today

I recently came across an article that resonated with me about the challenges facing the church today.  The ministry of the church is very different today from what it was just a generation ago.  I have heard parents of adult children say they wouldn’t want to be raising children in today’s culture.  A recent Nielson study reveals that 77 percent of kids say they have a TV in their bedroom.  As the Kaiser Family Foundation reported last year, most kids say their parents don’t have a clue about what they're watching. The average youth now spends 6 1/2 hours on media per day.

“A nation that loses its focus on children is a nation that's losing its grip on the future. A disturbing new study, just out from the Marriage Project at Rutgers University, makes it clear that America's family culture is steadily eroding. According to the study's authors, we are slowly shifting from a society of child-rearing families to a society of child-free adults. They cite four leading indicators for this drastic conclusion. Here are just a few. The marriage rate has plunged 48 percent since 1970; today only half of adults are married. What's more, these married couples—already fewer in number—are waiting longer to have their first child and having fewer overall. Movies and TV constantly market the child-free lifestyle of teens and young adults. A nation that is child-free is a nation that is less free as it is trading away its future."
—Tony Perkins

There are four challenges offered that I will share here with the web site from the Institute of Biblical Leadership in Lake Lure, N.C. There is more commentary with each point at the web site listed below.

Here are the four challenges:

1. We have abandoned our purpose & forgotten the war that is before us.
The truth is that we are in a very real war: a spiritual struggle against a committed, zealous Enemy.

2. We have departed from biblical principles & forsaken the power available to us.
In many churches, the preeminence of God's Word has been supplanted by man's ideas about life and leadership.

3. We have insufficient skills and training & failed to prepare for the battles we face.
Pastors often tell us, "I've never been taught how to deal with the day-in/day-out issues of being a pastor."
4. We have allowed sin to take root & have fled the field of battle.

In many churches sin has taken root and stands unopposed.

For the complete article click on: http://www.iblministry.org/usachurch.htm

This is an invitation to your church from the Christian Civic League of Maine:

The Christian Civic League of Maine has a church page on its web site with a list of evangelical Churches in the state who are in partnership with the League.  We would like to add your church to that list of churches.  Having your church listed there will provide a mutual benefit.

The number of average daily hits to the League web site is 5,000. During campaign seasons when the League experiences considerable media coverage, that number is multiplied several times. In a year’s time there are more than 2 million hits on the site.

Being listed on our web site provides increased exposure to your church. We know that many Mainers agree with the League in our Biblical approach to public policy and when they are looking for a church in their area, they will want to find one that views life from a Biblical perspective.

This is just one reason that being listed on the League’s supporting church page would benefit your church. You can view the church page by going to www.cclmaine.org and click on the “churches” feature on the menu.

Your church being listed on the League’s supporting church page will benefit the League by showing that there are far more evangelical Christians and churches in Maine than many think there are. For instance, often there are liberal Clergy who stand together making public statements which would lead one to believe that they represent a sizeable number of people. I happen to know, in my home area, that a considerable number of those churches have a Sunday morning attendance as low as 15 elderly people. Some of those churches only meet in the summer time, while others close down during the summer.

We can help each other. The League can benefit from your church being listed and you can benefit with the broader exposure.