So says research expert George Barna (pictured), founder and former owner of The Barna Group, a market research firm that studies Americans' religious beliefs and behaviours.

Barna lists two other big issues for the Church today: the steady decrease in a biblical worldview and the dwindling concern for spiritual formation.

Negative trends

Over the last few decades, Barna has observed negative trends increasingly permeating Western Christianity.

"People have become more selfish, churches have become less influential, pastors have become less Bible-centric" he says.

"Families have invested less of their time and energy in spiritual growth, particularly of their children.

"The media now influences the Church more than the Church influences the media, or the culture for that matter. The Christian Body tends to get off-track, arguing about a lot of things that really don't matter."

Decline in discipleship

The decline in Jesus's mission of discipleship and a lack of solid, biblical training from seminaries is a trend that troubles Barna.

Metrics which churches use to gauge success — attendance, fundraising and infrastructure — have little to do with Jesus's mission he says.

"Jesus didn't die for any of that. So we're measuring the wrong stuff and, consequently, we get the wrong outcomes."

He also thinks seminaries lead local churches into thinking that they're actually training and providing qualifications to individuals God has called to be leaders.

They unwittingly set young ministry leaders up for failure, he claims.

What to do now

Barna advocates for a radical return to biblical roots - which would mean rethinking the modern Church structure.

The institutional Church as we've created it is man-made. It's not in the Scriptures he says.

He is urging believers to invest in children rather than buildings. "They're the future of the Church."

"We need to go back and recognise it starts with families; parents have the primary responsibility ... local churches need to support parents in that endeavour.

"If we do that, we'll be able to grow the three percent of adults who are disciples in America today to a larger proportion."

The rise of AI

Barna is concerned about the potential negative impact artificial intelligence (AI) will have on the Church.

"As the Body of Christ, we've got to be very suspicious of and careful about anything that even labels itself 'artificial'.

"... I just encourage genuine leaders to be very cautious about inviting any of that into our lives and ... then influence other people's lives."

Parents should check AI and media to ensure they aligns with biblical values before allowing their children to access them, he says.

Take the initiative

Finding ways to reverse negative trends and revitalise discipleship is critical says Barna.

If we don't look for such ways, the elites in our culture will have the opportunity to shut down spiritual freedom, he adds.

This is our moment. "We either will put up or shut up. And I would suggest that we put up."

Source

• Christian Post

Founded in 1976 by a gay man, Frank Worthen, Exodus functioned as a support group for men and women who were struggling with their sexual orientation. Early on it embraced the idea that gays and lesbians could become straight through prayer and counseling.

But the belief in "reparative therapy was one of the things that led to the downfall of this organisation", said its president, Alan Chambers.

He noted that Exodus in recent years had redirected its focus to helping men and women work through their sexual identity.

"I am sorry we promoted sexual orientation change efforts and reparative theories about sexual orientation that stigmatised parents," Chambers said in the apology.

Chambers, who is married to his wife, Leslie, said his core beliefs about sexuality have not changed, and admitted he still wrestles with his own same-sex attraction.

"My beliefs about sex and sexuality and sexual expression are that God created, his original created intent was sexual expression between one man and one woman for one lifetime in the bonds of marriage, and that is the truth I live by," he said.

"But I do believe so many of us who hold to those scriptural beliefs ... have wielded them as a sword so often. We've been involved in a culture war that really, literally, has claimed untold lives, and we've got to be more careful."

The decision to close was announced at Exodus' annual conference, where Chambers said the board had decided to form a new ministry, to be called reducefear.org.

Chambers said there were many influences on his personal decision. Among them, he said, was the interfaith work overseas of the Christian relief group World Vision, which he praised for its co-operation with Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist groups to aid at-risk children.

Sources:

Washington Post

Religion News Service

Christian Post

Image: Christianity Today