Sonblock

Recently I was blessed to be able to relax at a beach in South Carolina for a week. I've heard that God lives in the mountains, but vacations at the beach. Rob Bell says that our world is "drenched with God." Nowhere is this more evident than in the awesomeness of oceans and beaches. I love the beach, but while there I recognized that I had graduated to the "grandparent tagalong class." In watching all the young families I realized that, like the Gospel, the beach is new to every generation.

The fact that "God has no grandchildren" has never been more evident than it is today. The American Religious Identification Survey 2008 published in March 2009 revealed that the American population continues to self-identify itself as predominantly Christian, but Americans are slowly becoming less Christian. 86% of Americans identified themselves as Christians in 1990 and 76% in 2008. The historic mainline churches and denominations have experienced the steepest declines, while the numbers of non-denominational Christians have been trending upward, particularly since 2001. Membership in the Presbyterian Church (USA) fell by 69,381 in 2008, continuing a trend that began in the mid-1960's. The 2008 decline was the largest numerical and percentage net membership loss since Presbyterian reunion in 1983. The challenge to Christianity in the US does not come from other religions, but rather from a rejection of all forms of organized religion. One out of every five Americans failed to indicate a religious identity in 2008. The "Nones" have grown from 8.2% in 1990 to 15.0% in 2008. One sign of the lack of attachment to religion is that 27% of Americans do not expect a religious funeral at their death.

Why do we now have generations of folks who have never tasted abundant living through Jesus? I submit that it is because we "grandparents" have abdicated our responsibility to make the Gospel relevant to our children and therefore our grandchildren as well. So what can we do? As General Assembly Stated Clerk Grady Parsons says, "Presbyterians can be evangelists." Mother Teresa taught us to bring people to Jesus "one by one." The Great Banquet teaches us to "make a friend, be a friend, and then bring your friend to Christ, remembering to talk to Jesus about your friend before you talk to your friend about Jesus." Jesus died for all of us. There are no "throw away" people or generations. It's time to remove our "Sonblock" and to allow the Holy Spirit to empower our evangelism.  Remember what happened on the day of Pentecost?  Since the devil loves pew sitters, it's time to leave the comfort of our sanctuaries on Sundays and Wednesdays and to take the Gospel and the love of Jesus back to the streets. Can you feel that wind blowing in from the ocean?

Anyone for fishin'?