The Church of America

Why has the Church of America died? What caused its death in some areas of the country? Oh, we are attending churches, many of us, but do we see God come and visit us like the poor (financially poor, spiritually very, very rich) African Church does? Why are they experiencing such a large visitation from God and those of us in America such a little one? We build immaculate buildings, fit for a king, the people in the pews, the pastor in the Pulpit, the band on the stage, all the electronic gadgets in place, yet are we experiencing God's presence and power like others are around the World? If not, why not? To see the full article go to: http://wordimpressions.weebly.com/wildernesscry

The Full Introduction

The Church of America is morphing slowly. The process has been happening so slowly, that to most, not much has changed. But if a person steps back, both in time and perspective, and looks carefully over the past several years, many things have transformed what we know in the United States as the "Church".

Several years ago, I spent a couple years out of the country. Before leaving, if you were to watch television, you would never hear a swear word on it. After a two-year departure to Europe, we returned. One night, we were watching a sitcom on prime time television, and to our amazement, profanity was being used throughout the show. My point is this, unless you somehow remove yourself from the present situation and gain perspective, life changes ever so slowly, and no one notices. The same is true, in my opinion, with the church. As it morphs slowly, we attend church, and hardly remember what it was like to go to church just a couple years ago.

Tom (not his real name) and I were laughing quietly. We couldn't help ourselves. We all had turned around in the pews and kneeled to pray. Something had tickled Tom and me, and we just could not keep from giggling. It was a Wednesday night service. There were only about 30 or 40 people in attendance. However, when we had Wednesday night prayer services, there was little singing, a few announcements, and mostly good 'ol fashioned prayers on your knees. That was how it was in many services 30 to 50 years ago. Tom and I finally settled down and focused on the time of prayer.

I recently attended a Sunday morning service. There were no hymnbooks, just a PowerPoint presentation with the words on a video screen. (I have nothing against Powerpoint presentations. I personally use the software for my morning devotions.) There were many announcements. You stood and said hi to your "neighbor", whom you never or rarely knew. The message presented by the speaker/Pastor I don't remember. (NOTE: 80% of what we hear is forgotten in 1 day.) But I do remember that it was entertaining. Many jokes were interjected to make us laugh; and laugh we did. There was an offering. A prayer was used to close the service and after an hour or so, we were off to home to eat lunch. You felt like the service was a performance based service instead of a participation based service.

Not long ago I took a trip to Africa. There I had the privilege of helping an organization with their orphanage. They have church on Wednesday and Friday nights, and Sunday mornings. On the orphanage compound, they have erected a huge "circus" type of tent, and that is church for them. They built a slightly raised platform, so everyone can see the speaker. The floor is dirt. You could tell when Jesus was coming, the orphans laid prostrate on the dirt ground saying prayers and worshiping Christ and doing it out loud. You could sense the presence of God's Spirit in our midst. The guest speaker came and presented a life message, many times born out of the trails of his/her life. To this day (many months later), I still remember the message: having a passion and compassion. I could tell you the scripture they expounded on, visually remember the people in the crowd they used as testimonial examples, and the impromptu dramatization that was used to illustrate the message. It was a life-born message. A message born out of God's Word and empowered by the Spirit of God and the person's real, personal experience.

Why has the Church of America died? What caused its death in some areas of the country? Oh, we are attending churches, many of us, but do we see God come and visit us like the poor (financially poor, spiritually very, very rich) African Church does? Why are they experiencing such a large visitation from God and those of us in America such a little one? We build immaculate buildings, fit for a king, the people in the pews, the pastor in the Pulpit, the band on the stage, all the electronic gadgets in place, yet are we experiencing God's presence and power like others are around the World? If not, why not?

Why do others around the world taste the goodness of God in such unprecedented ways? What are the differences and how can the Church of America find its way back to this kind of spiritual church? ...the Church that thirsts for God, the Church that is living for God first, the Church that is begging God in prayer for His undivided attention, longing to see Him, "...open the windows of heaven and pour out His blessings..." These and other issues related to the church, we will be probing into, as we open the door and take a look at the CHURCH OF AMERICA!