The Decline of the Church: Are You Concerned or Do You Contribute to It?
The church may be in decline, but it is still HIS church. Submit to Jesus who is the head of the church, busy yourself with His Kingdom work and watch your own spiritual life grow, watch the growth of those around you and see the Holy Spirit at work as the Lord transformes people and does wonderful things by His grace.
It doesn’t take long for you to realise that people aren’t happy with the state of the church. Generally speaking, in the Western world you can have a quick google, or speak to a few Christians and very soon you’ll hear complaints about the decline of the church. People say that society has changed which has resulted in fewer people attending church. Some argue that church simply isn’t engaging enough for the younger generations. Others say that the global church needs to change a become more inclusive and take on all sorts of ideologies and beliefs in order to be seen as relevant. Regardless of what people think the solution might be, the reality is that many people are looking at the Western church and seeing a decline.
But the question that comes to my mind is this, it’s all good and well to recognise that decline, but what are you doing about it, are you concerned enough to do something or do you contribute to that decline? This question is not just for church leaders but for every single person who goes to church and who would call themselves a Christian. Are you concerned enough to do something or do you contribute to that decline?
It’s easy to stand on the sidelines and to point the finger. It’s easy to stand amongst the crowd at a football match and shout instructions to the players with thousands of others. But you’re not playing, you don’t know the strategy, you don’t have the ball and you probably wouldn’t be able to score even if the goalie had one hand tied behind his back. In football, we get that. But it’s similar with the church. It is easy to stand on the sidelines, to raise your voice and say where the church is going wrong and how the status quo won’t suffice. But the difference with the church is that you’re called to get involved, to take the ball and to run with it.
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Guard Your Steps
The Preacher reminds us how important it is to guard our steps as we approach God’s house. Let us not neglect drawing near to God and His people on the Lord’s Day, listening to the preaching of God’s word, worshiping Him with reverence and awe, and recognizing His holiness.
Have you ever considered that it is important to “guard your steps when you go the house of God” (Ecc. 5:1)? Perhaps we don’t often think of church as a dangerous place, and yet it is a very dangerous place for those who refuse to listen to the preaching of God’s word. The author of Hebrews warns that there are those who have “tasted the goodness of the word of God…and then have fallen away” (Heb. 6:5-6). In this case there is no other way of salvation for them “since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt” (6:6). Long before the author of Hebrews, the Preacher recognized the difference between the wise and the fools that went to the house of God. Therefore, in order to be wise in our worship, it’s important for us to understand what it means to guard our steps when we go to church.
First, we are to “draw near” (Ecc. 5:1). We are to make worship a weekly priority. Each Lord’s Day we are to go to church. Meeting together with other believers on Sunday should be a priority over all other things. As the author of Hebrews says, “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb. 10:24-25).
We are also to “listen” to the preaching of God’s word (Ecc. 5:1). There are lots of different reasons people go to church. Some people go because they are invited by family or friends. Others go because they are curious about Christianity. Still others go because they like seeing their friends and making connections in the community.
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By this We Know the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error
What is truth? Pilate asked this rhetorical question sarcastically. Jesus told him the truth, but since he was not “of the truth” he did not hear it. If you are in Christ then you are of the truth and you have heard our Lord’s voice and are hearing it right now. The Holy Spirit is bearing witness with your spirit right now. You are held firm in His hands. He will lose none the Father gives Him. This is the truth.
5 They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 1 John 4:5-6 (NASB)
Several years ago when I still worked in an office I had a fellow with whom I worked, when he found out that I was a Christian, demand that I listen to his “reasoning” why “everything is relative.” I told him I would listen to him if he could refute the following statement, “Aren’t you making an ‘absolute statement’ when you say, ‘there are no absolutes’?” He chuckled nervously and left my cubicle. I still pray that God will save him. My brethren, the scourge of relativism is a blight within the visible Church. It causes people to flee from the absolute. When truth is seen as relative then in what or whom can anyone have faith and trust? Do we read the words of our Lord in Sacred Scripture ever saying, “Well, it depends?”
33 Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” 35 Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” 37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” 38 Pilate *said to Him, “What is truth?”And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and *said to them, “I find no guilt in Him. John 18:33-38 (NASB)
This is, of course, the Apostle John’s version of the trial of our Lord before Pilate. Pilate asks our Lord if He is a king. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world-to bear witness to the truth.” Notice how our Lord ties His Kingship or Lordship to His bearing witness to the truth. The Greek word translated as “bear witness to” is martureō. It means to be a witness or testify.
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PCA Minister Roland Barnes Reflects on 42 Years of Meals, Missions, And Memories
The Central Georgia Presbytery first called the Rev. Barnes to start the local Presbyterian Church as a mission church. He said that initial church started with just five families in addition to his own. Pastor Barnes said, “I came to Statesboro in April 1981. For the first six months or so, we met in a room at Georgia Southern University on the second floor of the Williams Center. We also met at homes.”
Members of Trinity Presbyterian Church describe their senior pastor of 42 years with such words as hospitable, hard-working, and mission-driven. Those descriptors are of Reverend Roland Barnes, who retires this spring after decades of serving at Trinity. Members of the church will celebrate Barnes and his service with a retirement celebration on Saturday, March 25.
Emily Kochetta is a long-time member of the church and alumna of Georgia Southern University. She will help throw the pastor’s retirement celebration and was very helpful in helping Grice Connect share Rev. Barnes’s legacy and some of the things that made his 42 years with the church so special.
Rev. Barnes is hospitable to many inside and outside of church
As with most pastors, scriptures dictate how the Rev. Barnes does his best to live his life. One such scripture gives an example of this.
Hebrews 13:1-2 in the Bible reads, “Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.”
The pastor, who uses this verse in one of his pamphlets at the church, said the Greek for hospitality translates as “love of strangers.”
One example of this, Pastor Barnes said, “We [his wife, Peaches, and his children] have had somebody over for Sunday dinner almost every Sunday for 42 years. You become less austere. You become more of a real person when you are sitting around sharing a meal.”
Doing the math, the Rev. Barnes and Peaches, doing the cooking, have fed approximately 10,000 people those 42 years.
The pastor said the meals would not have happened without Peaches, adding, “I would like to think that I laid the bricks, but she provided the mortar.”
Emily shared, “Peaches is a very outgoing person…Others can attest to her persistence in getting visitors to come eat on Sundays.”
Emily says others have emulated the example of the pastor and his wife, evidence of his wider influence on the community. She joined Trinity because of a hospitable couple in her apartment complex who were members there. Then, the hospitality continued.
“After I joined the church in January of 1984, I rented a room from a couple (members Charlie and Jan Davis). I got a front row seat to how they also had members and strangers into their home week after week, something I’ve tried to model myself.”
Building the church from just one room
The Central Georgia Presbytery first called the Rev. Barnes to start the local Presbyterian Church as a mission church. He said that initial church started with just five families in addition to his own.
Pastor Barnes said, “I came to Statesboro in April 1981. For the first six months or so, we met in a room at Georgia Southern University on the second floor of the Williams Center. We also met at homes.”
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