On this blog we've written a number of times about the waning of Christian cultural influence in the west. Beginning with the Emperor Constantine, and continuing for about 1600 years it wasn't this way. Christians really did have the most power and influence in government, economics and just about everything else. This was known as Christendom. But now I think it is safe to say Christendom is dying or already dead.
It is hard to go from having the seat of power, to being marginalized. As a result, many Christian leaders constantly bemoan all of the problems with the world and sometimes suggest that if we just had Christian leaders in office then everything would be much better (this hasn't worked out so well though as the history of Europe shows us).
The reality is the world today is much more like the world that the early Christians lived in. They were marginalized, not taken seriously and considered foolish. In this environment the Church looked weak and insignificant, but the gospel flourished and people were saved by the hundreds of thousands. In my view, if the Church becomes more effective at bringing the gospel to the four corners of the world, but loses it's cultural status I say rejoice!
We are not here to bring heaven on earth (everytime we've tried it's been a miserable failure), we're here to let people know how they can have heaven after earth. For more on this, check out this latest broadcast of The Whitehorse Inn.
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One of the big shifts that the evangelical church in America saw after Christendom STARTED dying (1960s)was the change of emphasis from the Church to the Personal. As the church was becoming more marginalized in society, it started to turn inward. This inward turn kept going until the focus became "your personal relationship" with God. Most of us can now see how this emphasis on the personal has finally led us to the Christian-consumer mentality that is frighteningly common in today's churches.
One of the biggest differences between the early church that Erick was referring to and the church today was that sense of community. Now that is not to say that unity was not an issue at all back then. The book of 1 Corinthians speaks plainly about that. It does seem however that the early church did indeed have a strong sense of "we," "us," and "our," instead of the old "me," "myself," and "I."
Jesus taught his disciples to pray "Our Father, who is in heaven." I believe he didn't say "My Father" for a reason.
Its not about you. Serve God, serve your neighbors, serve your brothers and sisters in the Lord. Sacrifice everything you have. Why? Because God is letting you and He loves you.
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