As we emerge from the madness of a global pandemic catastrophe, the Church-world is taking a hard look at itself – and well, it should. The Church, especially in the United States, has been losing ground for nearly 50 years.

The Church in the US has experienced the greatest missional opportunities of the past 2,000 years. We have had nearly unlimited access to freedom and governmental protection, vast material resources and wealth, and tremendous advancements in medicine, transportation, and technology. Yet somehow, with all of these resources at our disposal, our nation has become more secular. Church, how can that be?

Numerical statistics can’t tell the whole story, and they vary a bit depending on which study you look at, but the US Church has lost 20% of its Christian population in just the past half-century. In the 1970s, nearly 90% of the population identified as Christian. Today, that number struggles to reach 70% – a loss of somewhere between 40 million and 60 million people in just five decades. Ouch. 

I’m sure someone out there would want to argue over the statistics, but you really don’t need statistics to see the problem. Just look around. Most Christian churches are in a state of plateau or decline. The average age of worshipers is steadily increasing. The average number of Sundays that young people and young families are participating in worship is steadily declining. Nearly every denomination is experiencing record numbers of church closures. The United States appears to be well on its way to being a post-Christian nation – if it’s not there already.  

Yes, some churches are experiencing exponential numerical growth. The mega-church phenomenon has been the talk of the church world for several decades. Personally, I hold these exceptional churches and their gifted leaders in high regard, and I am thankful for their passion and capacity. I have no desire to judge or criticize those among us who are experiencing the blessings of numerical growth.

But we can’t let the numerical growth of a small percentage of churches cause us to overlook the hard realities of a nation experiencing a perpetual spiritual decline. During the same years that the mega-church movement has flourished, the US has become increasingly secular. That’s not a judgment; it’s just an observation. 

The pandemic has created a significant “before and after” break in history. As I have already suggested, the Church was failing before the pandemic. Will it continue to fail after the pandemic? Or will the pandemic be the catalyst that propels the Church forward into its next season of missional success? 

The answer to that question won’t be found in gimmicks or guilt-trips or stale dogmas or peculiar legalisms or denominational allegiances or jealous one-upmanship or radical politics or social engineering or battles over contemporary or traditional worship styles — or whatever else the church gets distracted by. The US Church has tried all of that stuff – and it hasn’t worked. 

If the Church is going to succeed, it will be due to the willingness of individual believers to fiercely adhere to the transformational principles of its Founder, Jesus Christ. Doing so will require each believer to fully surrender the control of their lives to the indwelling presence of God’s Holy Spirit. 

My friends, the Church is simply a gathering of believers – even a gathering as small as two or three. If those believers are lukewarm, then the Church will be lukewarm. Lukewarmness can be the heart disease of any church, regardless of its size. Friends, numbers may impress us, but they are meaningless to God. What matters to God is the heart condition of each individual believer. 

The early church turned the world upside down for nearly 250 years – without ever owning a building or a piece of property! They did it while being harassed, persecuted, and even executed. They did it without wealth or high-speed transportation, or digital technology of any kind. Many of them lived under tyrannical dictators and despots. Even with all of these difficulties and hardships, the Church advanced triumphantly. What did they have that we don’t?

The answer: nothing. We have access to exactly the same Spirit and fire and courage as they did. The problem is our unwillingness to tap into it. For us, life is just too easy. Instead of being passionately ablaze with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are lukewarm and filled with apathy and complacency.

Jesus addressed the lukewarm problem in Revelation 3:14-20,

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”

If the Church is going to move victoriously forward, then every believer must repent of their own lukewarm religiosity. Religion will never be enough. We need to be completely consumed by the passionate fire of true spirituality. A church consisting of believers who are selflessly willing to lay down their lives for God, for each other, and for the lost will be a church that changes its world. Are we ready? Are we willing? The time is now.