The once vibrant Christian South is beginning to become a "boneyard of religious history", warns one US pastor.
There may be a church on every street corner but many of them are dying, if not dead already, said Tyler Jones, lead pastor at Vintage21 Church, in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Jones has joined several pastors this week to sound the alarm on the decline of the church in the South – a decline that he believes is happening faster than anywhere in the country.
And the decline, they say, isn't due to the external changes in the South, such as urbanisation and intellectual and cultural growth. Rather, the problems are within the church.
In the South, the people are not unreached but wrongly reached, Jones said at "Advance10: Contextualising the Gospel in the New South", a three-day conference that kicked off on Monday.
Churches have failed to understand the Gospel and how it applies to people's lives in a rapidly changing culture, he noted. Christian faith in the South exists primarily in name alone, he stated.
Though a majority of residents in the South claim to be Christian, many are being taught "quaint moralism over the Gospel", the Raleigh pastor lamented.
And "moralism is the greatest form of self worship", he warned. "It robs us of our need for God."
Jerome Gay, lead pastor of Vision International Church in Raleigh, also views moralism as a pervasive problem in the churches.
"Too long within the South, Christianity has been presented as a list of don'ts. Don't go to the club, don't join the frat, don't do this, don't do that," he pointed out.
The result is an increase in the "culture of the dechurched – people that have been burned by church, experienced a ton of church hurt".
"And they don't actually know Christ because they haven't been presented with the God of the Bible. They've been presented with a list of do's and don'ts."
The conference is being put on by a cooperative movement called Advance the Church, which seeks to "assist local churches in planting healthy, Gospel-centred churches and revive the boneyard of dead or dying churches – beginning in the context of the urban south".
Pastors in the South recognise the need for churches to get serious about their mission, respond to the changing culture without watering down the Gospel, and radically reorient their very existence to not only reach the unreached but also those who grew up in the pews.
David Platt, pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, said there was a definite question among many churches as to what the Gospel was and that there was a great need for clarity on the Gospel.
"I think there's a real comfortability level that the Gospel is almost assumed when the reality is a lot of people who [grew] up in the church need to hear the Gospel truly as it's presented biblically and need to be saved and are being saved," said Platt.
According to missiologist Ed Stetzer, the biggest challenge in the churches is that they have made it acceptable for people to do nothing and call themselves Christ followers. He contended that sitting next to someone on Sunday did not guarantee biblical community.
source: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/is.the.church.dying.in.americas.bible.belt/25802.htm
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Christian man dies, three injured after attack in India
by Staff
April 30, 2010
(christiansunite.com) - A 25-year-old Christian man was killed and three other believers were severely injured following an attack by militant Hindus on a prayer meeting in Saliya, Betul district, Madhya Pradesh on April 17.
Between 15 and 30 assailants disrupted the meeting attended by more than 400 Christians and began to destroy Bibles and other property. They then accused the believers of forcible conversion and attacked them with sticks and iron rods.
The Christians fled the scene, running outside into the darkness of the night. Amit Gilbert, a Master of Divinity student, fell into an open well, hit his head on the well's outer wall and drowned.
One of the injured Christians sustained a fractured spine and remained in serious condition at last report. (Sources: Global Council of Indian Christians, Union of Catholic Asian News)
source:http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion09278.shtml
April 30, 2010
(christiansunite.com) - A 25-year-old Christian man was killed and three other believers were severely injured following an attack by militant Hindus on a prayer meeting in Saliya, Betul district, Madhya Pradesh on April 17.
Between 15 and 30 assailants disrupted the meeting attended by more than 400 Christians and began to destroy Bibles and other property. They then accused the believers of forcible conversion and attacked them with sticks and iron rods.
The Christians fled the scene, running outside into the darkness of the night. Amit Gilbert, a Master of Divinity student, fell into an open well, hit his head on the well's outer wall and drowned.
One of the injured Christians sustained a fractured spine and remained in serious condition at last report. (Sources: Global Council of Indian Christians, Union of Catholic Asian News)
source:http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion09278.shtml
Pastor and wife killed in northern Nigeria
by Staff
April 29, 2010
(christiansunite.com) - Suspected Islamists abducted and killed a pastor and his wife in Boto village, Bauchi state in northern Nigeria on April 13.
Pastor Ishaku Kadah (48) and his wife Selina (45) were abducted from the headquarters of their church, which was also their home. Their burned bodies were discovered hours later.
Police have reportedly arrested two suspects and have launched a man-hunt for several other accomplices involved in the murder. Pastor Ishaku's church previously came under attack in late January by Islamic extremists who set fire to the building mere days after Christians displaced by violence in Plateau state had taken refuge on the premises.
source:http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion09274.shtml
April 29, 2010
(christiansunite.com) - Suspected Islamists abducted and killed a pastor and his wife in Boto village, Bauchi state in northern Nigeria on April 13.
Pastor Ishaku Kadah (48) and his wife Selina (45) were abducted from the headquarters of their church, which was also their home. Their burned bodies were discovered hours later.
Police have reportedly arrested two suspects and have launched a man-hunt for several other accomplices involved in the murder. Pastor Ishaku's church previously came under attack in late January by Islamic extremists who set fire to the building mere days after Christians displaced by violence in Plateau state had taken refuge on the premises.
source:http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion09274.shtml
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Poway School Board Continues Fight to Ban Teacher's "God" Banners
by Staff
March 30, 2010
ANN ARBOR, MI, (christiansunite.com) - Late last week, attorneys for the Poway Unified School District in San Diego, California, filed their appeal of Federal District Court Judge Benitez's ruling that held school officials violated teacher Bradley Johnson's constitutional rights when they ordered him to remove two patriotic banners from the walls of his classroom because they referred to "God." The appeal will be heard by a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Johnson, a highly respected math teacher in the Poway school district, had the banners displayed on his classroom walls for over 20 years. In 2007, school officials ordered him to take them down, claiming the banners expressed an impermissible Judeo-Christian viewpoint and may be offensive to a Muslim student.
The patriotic banners included the phrases, "In God We Trust, " "One Nation Under God, " and "God Bless America."
In a clear case of a double standard, school officials, however, saw no problem with non-Christian or anti-religious displays by other teachers. The school district left untouched displays that included a 40-foot string of Tibetan prayer flags with images of Buddha; a poster with the lyrics from John Lennon's anti-religion song "Imagine, " which begins, Imagine there's no Heaven; a poster with Hindu leader Mahatma Gandhi's "7 Social Sins;" a poster of Muslim leader Malcolm X, and a poster of Buddhist leader Dali Lama.
On February 26, 2010, Federal District Judge Roger T. Benitez, in a strongly worded decision, ruled the school district violated Brad Johnson's constitutional rights when it ordered him to take down his classroom banners:
"[The school district officials] apparently fear their students are incapable of dealing with diverse viewpoints that include God's place in American history and culture. . . . That God places prominently in our Nation's history does not create an Establishment Clause violation requiring curettage and disinfectant for Johnson's public high school classroom walls. It is a matter of historical fact that our institutions and government actors have in past and present times given place to a supreme God."
The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has been representing Bradley Johnson ever since the school district ordered him to remove his banners in 2007.
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel for the Thomas More Law Center, commented, "This is another example of public school boards attempting to eradicate the essential role played by Christianity in our Nation's history. We are in this fight for the long haul, and our lawyers will defend Mr. Johnson's constitutional right to display his patriotic banners and Judge Benitez's ruling before the Ninth Circuit, and to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary."
The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes America's Christian heritage and moral values, including the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life. It supports a strong national defense and an independent and sovereign United States of America. The Law Center accomplishes its mission through litigation, education, and related activities. It does not charge for its services.
source:http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion09167.shtml
March 30, 2010
ANN ARBOR, MI, (christiansunite.com) - Late last week, attorneys for the Poway Unified School District in San Diego, California, filed their appeal of Federal District Court Judge Benitez's ruling that held school officials violated teacher Bradley Johnson's constitutional rights when they ordered him to remove two patriotic banners from the walls of his classroom because they referred to "God." The appeal will be heard by a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Johnson, a highly respected math teacher in the Poway school district, had the banners displayed on his classroom walls for over 20 years. In 2007, school officials ordered him to take them down, claiming the banners expressed an impermissible Judeo-Christian viewpoint and may be offensive to a Muslim student.
The patriotic banners included the phrases, "In God We Trust, " "One Nation Under God, " and "God Bless America."
In a clear case of a double standard, school officials, however, saw no problem with non-Christian or anti-religious displays by other teachers. The school district left untouched displays that included a 40-foot string of Tibetan prayer flags with images of Buddha; a poster with the lyrics from John Lennon's anti-religion song "Imagine, " which begins, Imagine there's no Heaven; a poster with Hindu leader Mahatma Gandhi's "7 Social Sins;" a poster of Muslim leader Malcolm X, and a poster of Buddhist leader Dali Lama.
On February 26, 2010, Federal District Judge Roger T. Benitez, in a strongly worded decision, ruled the school district violated Brad Johnson's constitutional rights when it ordered him to take down his classroom banners:
"[The school district officials] apparently fear their students are incapable of dealing with diverse viewpoints that include God's place in American history and culture. . . . That God places prominently in our Nation's history does not create an Establishment Clause violation requiring curettage and disinfectant for Johnson's public high school classroom walls. It is a matter of historical fact that our institutions and government actors have in past and present times given place to a supreme God."
The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has been representing Bradley Johnson ever since the school district ordered him to remove his banners in 2007.
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel for the Thomas More Law Center, commented, "This is another example of public school boards attempting to eradicate the essential role played by Christianity in our Nation's history. We are in this fight for the long haul, and our lawyers will defend Mr. Johnson's constitutional right to display his patriotic banners and Judge Benitez's ruling before the Ninth Circuit, and to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary."
The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes America's Christian heritage and moral values, including the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life. It supports a strong national defense and an independent and sovereign United States of America. The Law Center accomplishes its mission through litigation, education, and related activities. It does not charge for its services.
source:http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion09167.shtml
Christian man burned alive, wife raped in Pakistan
by Staff
March 31, 2010
(christiansunite.com) - A Pakistani Christian man passed away on March 22 after he was set on fire by Muslims in Rawalpindi three days earlier. Arshed Masih (38) and his wife, Martha (33), had been threatened with "dire consequences" by their employer, Sheikh Mohammad Sultan, unless they agreed to convert to Islam. The couple steadfastly refused.
In the days before the attack, Sultan reported a theft of 500,000 rupees and, although Arshed and Martha were not named as suspects, Sultan offered to drop the case if they renounced Christianity.
When they were brought in for questioning, Arshed was assaulted and Martha was raped by police. Arshed was set on fire on March 19 in front of the police station by a group of Muslims, some of whom were reportedly officers and religious leaders.
He sustained burns to 80% of his body. The couple's three children -- Mary (12), Nasir (10) and Neha (7) -- were forced to witness the horrific violence against their parents. (Sources: BosNewsLife, AsiaNews, International Christian Concern)
source:http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion09174.shtml
March 31, 2010
(christiansunite.com) - A Pakistani Christian man passed away on March 22 after he was set on fire by Muslims in Rawalpindi three days earlier. Arshed Masih (38) and his wife, Martha (33), had been threatened with "dire consequences" by their employer, Sheikh Mohammad Sultan, unless they agreed to convert to Islam. The couple steadfastly refused.
In the days before the attack, Sultan reported a theft of 500,000 rupees and, although Arshed and Martha were not named as suspects, Sultan offered to drop the case if they renounced Christianity.
When they were brought in for questioning, Arshed was assaulted and Martha was raped by police. Arshed was set on fire on March 19 in front of the police station by a group of Muslims, some of whom were reportedly officers and religious leaders.
He sustained burns to 80% of his body. The couple's three children -- Mary (12), Nasir (10) and Neha (7) -- were forced to witness the horrific violence against their parents. (Sources: BosNewsLife, AsiaNews, International Christian Concern)
source:http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion09174.shtml
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