My Fellow Believers

To start off, I would like to say what I believe to be a very controversial statement. As American Christians, we currently live in one of the worst atmospheres for Christian growth, and it's our fault. While some believe we as Christians live in the worst century in history, I would say that is utter nonsense. We are blessed with safety, with prosperity, and worst of all, with comfort. I believe this was given to us as a blessing from the Lord, however it has been twisted by Satan into a massive stumbling block. No persecution results in weak Christianity. We see in Acts 8:1-8 that the church was persecuted by Saul, and as a result the scattered remains of these churches spread the word even further! This is clear Biblical proof that persecution of the Church can actually lead to the strengthening and spreading of the Word.

"Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance" - Romans 5:3

As persecution goes, we are (in my belief) in a time where the Church is not experiencing much of it, and as a result, we are complacent. Due to this lack of severe persecution I believe we are put in a unique situation to spread the word of Christ in a more bold manner than others. We have been put in a place where the worst thing we will suffer as a result of our beliefs is the mockery and disapproval of others. We as believers should be more than willing to suffer in such a small way for our beliefs. We must ask ourselves why we find, in a country with little to no persecution, the attendance of Church is rapidly declining, yet in a country with intense persecution such as China, it is rising so rapidly. Let us look into China a little more, in the 1980s there were estimated to be about 3 million believers who attended underground churches. If you are not familiar with underground churches, they are hidden churches attempting to remain safe from government persecution. Although it is difficult to say the exact numbers (some outlets say there are now 20 million others say there are up to 50 million), there is no arguing that the number of Christians in China have grown exponentially since the 1980s. This in my opinion is not "regardless" of persecution we see growth, this is "because" of persecution we see growth! As Paul says, "suffering produces perseverance".

To be clear, I do not believe the success of a Church is measured by its numbers, I believe it is measured by its purity. What I am focusing on here is not completely a numbers thing as I believe they do not matter. What I am attempting to do is point out with the numbers that there is indeed a heart issue within the modern Church. No persecution produces weak Christians, this is something we must be mindful of. I am not however saying I wish persecution upon the Church, we are so blessed for the comforts that we have. But we must be aware of the dangers that come from a "comfortable" Christian lifestyle, and actively combat those. I understand I am painting with a broad stroke here, I also understand there are many Churches who love Christ and are passionately pursuing His ministry. I pray this article would be an encouragement to those Churches to continue the fight, and not allow laziness to creep in.

“Placing Him first in your life should be your daily goal, the main pursuit in the midst of all your other pursuits." Paul Chappell

As believers we must be cautious to not allow the things of this world to to take our attention away from the things the Lord has called us to do. We are put on this earth to spread the Gospel, and to live a life that is pictured after Jesus Christ. When we as believers allow the comforts of this world to become our primary focus it results in weak believers, weak theology, and as a result weaker Churches. It would be ungrateful for us to not enjoy and appreciate the things the Lord has given us, they are blessings after all! However they should never take priority over what the Lord has called us to do, and we should never be comfortable with complacency.

---

What Does This Mean For Us?

My plea to the modern church is that we use this time of peace and prosperity not to become complacent, but to use our abundance of freedom and resources to reach out more boldly to the people of our community. While we may face mean words, and hostile reactions we certainly will not experience anything comparable to what the disciples faced. Let us have faith in the God of the Bible, and be bold in our ministry, using the blessings He has given to us as a springboard, not as a stumbling block.