A growing group in our society are the spiritual vagabonds, restless souls wandering from fellowship to fellowship and never settling down. Either on the constant lookout for the perfect church or treating organized Christianity like a smorgasboard where you pick and choose the bits you like and move on to the next dish.
This begs the question, what went wrong? Why is our congregation not able to even gather and hold on to the Christians? And if we cannot make Christians to come and stay in our corps how on earth are we going to be able to win the unsaved?
Add to this the problem that the vast majority (85% ) of new Christians leave the Church in the first 12 months and it shows just how big the problem is!
As for the answer, I’m convinced that it is bound up with authenticity but how that is expressed in the Church is part of the puzzle I’ve yet to fit into place.
I am toying with the idea that one of the biggest issues is our lack of power, we preach but lack the backing of Gods signs and wonders.
I guess this is one kind of authenticity, the rubber stamp from God saying that this is from me.
I think our lack of power in turn comes from our lack of holiness and our lack of holiness from our compromizing lifestyles. We are far from the single minded soldiers of the primitive Salvation Army.
Consider this quote from Samuel Logan Brengle:
“It is this holiness… that we Salvationists must maintain, otherwise we shall betray our trust; we shall lose our birthright; we shall cease to be a spiritual power on the earth; we shall have a name to live and yet be dead; our glory shall depart; and we, like Samson shorn of his locks, shall become as other men; the souls with whom we are entrusted will grope in darkness or go elsewhere for soul-nourishment and guidance; and while we may still have titles and ranks, which will have become vainglorious, to show upon our children, we shall have no inheritance to bequeath them of martyr-like sacrifice, or spiritual power, or dare-devil faith, or pure, deep joy, of burning love, of holy triumph.”
I find it rather descriptive of the symptoms we see in todays church.