The Loss Of Faith In The USA

The Loss Of Faith In The USA—This Is Why We Must Live The Discipled Life

There is a great cause for alarm for the Christian and his and her church if disciples are not being multiplied and becoming disciplemakers for Jesus. Over the course of time, many churches have, in America, settled for a disciple-lite kind of Christianity. Many have become satisfied with worn-out traditions and a spiritual status quo; where no one is changing to become more like Christ and no change is being made in the church that cultivates an environment where spiritual growth is not the norm.

Now, we are seeing its awful fruit where we are losing a culture to a generation who perceives God and Christianity “as a hobby or a fashion statement,” not a life-transforming way of life as a biblical disciple of Jesus Christ.
The latest news of the day comes from USA Today, the March 9, 2009 edition. May the Lord use this ominous study to compel us to a fresh and vibrant commitment to make disciples for Jesus Christ. God’s way makes disciples. Man’s way makes a mess.

Most religious groups in USA have lost ground, survey finds
By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY

When it comes to religion, the USA is now land of the freelancers.
The percentage. of people who call themselves in some way Christian has dropped more than 11% in a generation. The faithful have scattered out of their traditional bases: The Bible Belt is less Baptist. The Rust Belt is less Catholic. And everywhere, more people are exploring spiritual frontiers — or falling off the faith map completely.

These dramatic shifts in just 18 years are detailed in the new American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), to be released today. It finds that, despite growth and immigration that has added nearly 50 million adults to the U.S. population, almost all religious denominations have lost ground since the first ARIS survey in 1990.

"More than ever before, people are just making up their own stories of who they are. They say, 'I'm everything. I'm nothing. I believe in myself,' " says Barry Kosmin, survey co-author.

Among the key findings in the 2008 survey:
• So many Americans claim no religion at all (15%, up from 8% in 1990), that this category now outranks every other major U.S. religious group except Catholics and Baptists. In a nation that has long been mostly Christian, "the challenge to Christianity … does not come from other religions but from a rejection of all forms of organized religion," the report concludes.

• Catholic strongholds in New England and the Midwest have faded as immigrants, retirees and young job-seekers have moved to the Sun Belt. While bishops from the Midwest to Massachusetts close down or consolidate historic parishes, those in the South are scrambling to serve increasing numbers of worshipers.

• Baptists, 15.8% of those surveyed, are down from 19.3% in 1990. Mainline Protestant denominations, once socially dominant, have seen sharp declines: The percentage of Methodists, for example, dropped from 8% to 5%.

• The percentage of those who choose a generic label, calling themselves simply Christian, Protestant, non-denominational, evangelical or "born again," was 14.2%, about the same as in 1990.

Meanwhile, nearly 2.8 million people now identify with dozens of new religious movements, calling themselves Wiccan, pagan or "Spiritualist," which the survey does not define.

Wicca, a contemporary form of paganism that includes goddess worship and reverence for nature, has even made its way to Arlington National Cemetery, where the Pentagon now allows Wiccans' five-pointed-star symbol to be used on veterans' gravestones.

Religion as a hobby

Since the first ARIS study was released, other major national surveys have offered snapshots of the USA's faith.

The Baylor University Religion Surveys in 2006 and 2008, each based on 35,000 interviews, were distinguished by a look at how people described and understood God. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released its Religious Landscape Survey last year, also based on 35,000 interviews, mapping Americans' beliefs state by state. It found that 41% of people had switched their religion at some point in life.

The initial ARIS report in 1990 set the table for those surveys.
It was based on 113,000 interviews, updated with 50,000 more in 2001 and now 54,000 in 2008. Because the U.S. Census does not ask about religion, the ARIS survey was the first comprehensive study of how people identify their spiritual expression.
Kosmin concluded from the 1990 data that many saw God as a "personal hobby," and that the USA is "a greenhouse for spiritual sprouts."
Today, he says, "religion has become more like a fashion statement, not a deep personal commitment for many." [end of USA Today article]

Ezra and the Discipled Life

So, what are we to do? We are to do just what Ezra did: He lived the discipled life, before the Lord and before others.

For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel. Ezra 7:10 (NASB95)

For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel. Ezra 7:10 (NIV)

9 Ezra had scheduled their departure from Babylon on the first day of the first month; they arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month under the generous guidance of his God. 10 Ezra had committed himself to studying the Revelation of God, to living it, and to teaching Israel to live its truths and ways. Ezra 7:9-10 (MSG)

1. He set his heart to study God’s Word
2. He practiced it and applied God’s Word to his life by living the discipled life
3. He taught it to others, making disciples who would learn to live in God’s truths and ways

Like Ezra, we too must study; we must commit ourselves to spending time in and learning the truths of God’s Word.

Like Ezra, we too must practice what we know and apply God’s Word to our life; going beyond just knowing the facts from the Bible to obeying those facts with a willing heart.

Like Ezra, we too must teach God’s Word to others; we must not keep it to ourselves but reach out and intentionally make disciples of Jesus Christ.

Looking for a way to cut against the cultural grain where faith is losing ground? You do it by following Jesus’ clear instructions:

19 Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 20 Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20 (MSG)

Making disciples with you, by studying it, practicing it, and teaching it…Until He returns.

Denny