An Elder's Lament for the American Church

Dear brother elders:I may not be available to attend Tuesday’s elder dinner. Rick is calling for a fast and I agree a fast is needed at this time in the life of CCC, but also the Church at large – the Church in ruin. Perhaps these are two different fasts.But I am driven to ask, just how do we effectively evangelize in the postmodern post-Christian world we live in? How do we find and establish faithfulness within the increasingly dysfunctional church of the West? How do we, as elders, call believers to faithfulness in a culture and church that is moving away from historical Christianity -- the faith pronounced in Scripture?Do we fast for our State Legislature? In the recent debates as it passed transgender use bathroom for our school children, Assembly Speaker John Pérez was told he would raise the ire of Christians throughout the state. He responded, “Christians – California? We’ve marginalized them.” Had I been a party to this conversation I could not have disagreed with him. Where was the united voice of the Church in opposition to this and many other recent offensive and immoral legislative actions?Nationally, the future of America looks bleak. We’re battling the desecration of the very meaning of marriage – and possibly losing the fight. What kind of a world are we leaving our children and grandchildren? Romans 1 explicitly warns us of the implications of people living against God’s nature.We’re familiar with the account of opposition to Paul’s preaching with the account of rioting by the silversmiths following a sermon Paul gave against polytheism in the Great Theater. Today, we hear politicians bragging that the church is no longer feared because it is marginalized.I recognize as we argue for a narrow path of discipleship that it requires a redoubled loyalty to the truths of the gospel, even as we are seeing much of the church laid waste and walls fallen and in disrepair. Do we despair in these times? No. I don’t believe we should. As I see much of the church in ruin it has not led me to despair (brokenness, yes, despair, no), and it certainly has not led me to curse God for failing to provide me with a triumphant and splendid church in which to live and serve.In fact, I believe our vocation as elders is to dwell within the ruins of the church at large resulting from an increasingly inarticulate theological tradition, a capitulating and culturally captive church, and a disintegrating spiritual discipline. How can we do otherwise? Scripture says we are to endure everything for the sake of the elect (2 Tim. 2:9–10).There is no victory in detachment or separation, whether in the form of critical judgment, hesitant loyalty, individualistic faith, theological abstraction, or self-protective spiritual illusions. Yes, we must war against the many paths that lead us away from that which the Lord has given us. But I reject those who call for moving away from the church at large and in to isolationism. We are a small part of the greater church and can have no influence over something we refuse to be a part of.The image of ruins is found throughout scripture, and it is applied to the city of Jerusalem, ruined by foreign invaders but also by infidelity and injustice. The more we grasped the gravity and consequence of the gospel promise, the more we should recoil at the failures of the church. Today the church is in a state of ruin, immersed and buried deeply in the world – invisible, if you will – even as it is called out to be the light of God in a dark world.Fast? Yes. For CCC? Yes. For the church of the West? Yes. I believe it is just such a church in ruin in a darkened world that revival is meant for.Occupying ‘til He comes,Frank