Christianity, considered to have been founded on Christian principles and values, in on the decline in the United States; according to a recent poll by the Pew Research Center.
In an article recorded in the Baptist Press, the number of people who considered themselves Protestants dropped 10 percent in the last decade. Catholics stayed about the same.
Those who identified themselves as Christians outpaced those with no religious affiliation by a 2-1 margin. However, in 2007, Christians had a 5-1 margin. Clearly Christianity is losing ground. Other Pew Research findings show people also are praying less. Only 48 percent of adults said they pray daily now as opposed to 58 percent in 2007. It is not hard to find a correlation between the decrease in prayer and the decline of Christianity.
In these days 41 percent of adults in the U.S. consider religion very important in their lives, compared to 56 percent in 2007. In contrast to this, the fastest growth of Christianity
In contrast to this, the fastest growth of Christianity in found in the most unlikely places — In Iran and Afghanistan. As one of the early Christian fathers said, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”
According to Operation World, the fastest growing Evangelic movement is in Iran. Disillusionment with the current, Islamic regime has caused thousands to turn to the Christian faith.” In the past 20 years more Iranians have become Christians then in the past 13 centuries.”
Whereas, in 1979, it was estimated that there were only 500 Christians in Iran; today conservative estimates place the number at close to a million. They own no property, no buildings, no central leadership, and they are pro-Israel. They strive to make disciples not converts.
The question of why, in the midst of persecution and at the risk of their lives, are they willing to share their faith, and meet in secret places to pray, sing and worship. And why in the USA with all of our freedoms, technology, training, buildings and tools, are we on the decline. It might be noted that, historically, the early church confronted similar opposition as the Iranians and yet Christianity exploded across the world.
In this brief space, I would not attempt an in-depth analysis of the situation; but I might offer a few observations. We are comfortable and complacent. The Iranians are anything but that. In our wealth and ease we are self-sufficient. We think, unconsciously, that we have it within our means to handle our own issues and we have lost sight of, if we ever owned it, our responsibility to carry the message of Christ and the cross to the ends of our street and the ends of the earth.
Secondly, it seems the God, the Holy Spirit, has a special feeling for the persecuted. His Spirit has moved with power to empower and give courage and insight to those who sincerely seek Him. He has used visions, dreams and miraculous events to show himself strong in their behalf. On the contrary listen to the prayers offered in our churches. There is little brokenness, or call for repentance.
There is not time set aside to just pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to fall on us and heal our hearts and our land. Society has worshiped the God of tolerance so we dare not speak the truth lest we offend. Let us pray for the persecuted church, but maybe we need their prayers as well. It seems that the Spirit of God is more at home with them then with us.
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