1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant
mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and
undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who
are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be
revealed in the last time.
We live in exiting
times with Hillsongs New York fighting off the gay tribe knocking their
doors, and even the mega church New Creation in Singapore issuing a
statement to distant themselves when Adam Lambert performed at the Star
Theatre which belonged to them. If they don't extend the grace of God to
gays, there can never be a revival for the Nones. But even if the doors
are opened, unless there is justice in a judgement for compensation
there can never be open doors.
The Nones will judge
the church and her hypocrisy, The survey numbers
of the Pew Research 2015 on Christianity were surprising with the
percentage of Christians dropping by 7% in less than a decade giving
rise to the Nones or nothing in particular religion. Are they just being
honest for the liberal environment I grew up with in the 80s, everyone
was a Christian since they were from a Christian tradition yet few
attended any church regularly nor believed in Jesus.
In 2011, the blogger
John Shore claimed "the inevitably of the rise of progressive
Christianity" with reference to the acceptance of gay basic rights.
Ironically, a more liberal society does not translate to any revival of
the mainline church. Rather, the opposite has
occured. A hundred years of progressive theology ran parallel with a charismatic evangelical revival amongst the commoners
of simple faith since the Azusa St revival of 1906. From nothing, the
mega churches has become mainstream but not mainline. The race is almost
over. The mega churches may have stop growing exponentially but
that does
not equate to failling over the cliff.
At a time when US is becoming decidely more liberal, we have a massive
decline of the mainline churches not only in percentage of population
but in absolute numbers.. Evangelism to the Nones are not just being
welcoming and inclusive. It is about not being hypocrites. The
Charismatic Evangelicals must change and ask for forgiveness.
Is the message of God's grace to the gay
community moving to the evangelicals? Without the risen
Christ, perhaps there can be no reality of love, faith and Hope from
heaven. The message of God's
grace to Gays is now moving from the progressive to the mega churches.
Jesus is knocking at the door of the mega churches such as Hillsongs,
for gays to come in. The Nones will judge the church whether we can give
grace.
Evangelicals are
abandoning the mainline but joining the mega churches according to
recent surveys. The number of evangelicals are growing from 59.8
to 62.2 million. In percentage terms, the Evangelicals did fell from
26.3% to 25.4% But this is largely is due to the drop in the a) Baptist church by
1.8% from 17.2% to 15.4%, b)
Methodist by 1.6% from 6.2 to 4.6%. c)
Lutheran Church by 1.1% from 4.6 to 3.5%. In contrast there
was a revival in the evangelicals in the mega churches namely a) Non
denominational churches by 1.7% from 4.5% to 6.2% b)
Pentecostal by 0.2% from 4.4 to 4.6%. Hence, the
evangelicals in the mega churches have a growth of 1.9% or more
than the size of the entire Episcopal church.
There is a yearning
of the human spirit 2,000 years ago - to connect with God the Father in
a fallen world where the work of the devil and worship of spiritual
deities is common. It is not filled by the progress in religious
intellect in many bible college. That yearning is
becoming louder and the reality of God's presence and help through Jesus
Christ as the way and the truth to God is becoming more tangibly felt.
Where Jesus is magnified, and the Holy Spirit is allowed to move, the
presence of God is drawing people. The grace of God is
raising out to the byways and the outcasts of society ie gays. The
message of the Gospel that God's grace is extending to gays is knocking
at the Evangelical Charismatic churches!
|