Is it "hard to be a Christian in America?"

For the next few posts I want to give you some reflections from my time at the Transition into Ministry (TiM) event May 4 - 7 in Indianapolis -

"It's hard to be a Christian in America." That is one of the themes I kept reading in Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove's book The New Monasticism: What It Has To Say To Today's Church . During his keynote presentation at the event, he mentioned how much harder it is to be a pastor these days. He gave four reasons:

1. The Church has a Status Problem - Ministry has taken a few knocks. Suffers from people's egos as well as their pocketbooks. Ministry is also not financially supportive for denominations that traditionally focused on full-time ministers.

2. Institutional Maintenance - Church is difficult to maintain. We are worrying about how we are going to make the budget work or other factors/issues that serve to maintain the institution.

3. "Emerging" Adults - we live in a low commitment culture.

4. "Low Confidence" faith - Church has gone so wrong and has been bad news for some people. Hard to stir up a movement or regain that passion the church once had.

Surely these are but a few factors that may lead to the difficulty of being a Christian in America today. What do you think? Do you believe that it is difficult to be a Christian today? What are some things that lead to you believe that this statement is true? If you don't agree, what do you say?

Comments

[Sami Mikhail]

I think it would be more accurate to say "It is too easy to be a Christian in America."

It addresses all the points raised.

I was born in Egypt. In a muslim country, being Christian is truly difficult -- discrimination, marginalization etc.

Being a minority in Egypt, Egyptian Christians make their Church a priority in their lives because of all the needs the Church meets.

But in America, Church is one more priority in a vast gamut of competing priorities, leading to the issues raised... Christians can have all their needs met elsewhere...

[DennisS]

Sami - very good point.

Byron - It seems to me that we have done a poor job of letting our light shine (Mt. 5:16). Instead, we have allowed and encouraged private faith (hiding it under a bushel).

I'm back from India less than 2 weeks now, and I saw folks putting symbols of Christian faith on their homes, businesses, vehicles, etc. They put up signs with scripture quotes. They designate various mountain tops as prayer mountains. They name their children with names they find in the Bible. They mark their final witness by being buried rather than cremated (as the 85% Hindu majority are cremated).

They speak of Christ, they sing songs of faith as they work or do chores. It's said that a million more Christian churches won't be enough in the next 10 years for all the converts in India. We were in several rather new church buildings, and already there was not enough room - such that people gathered outside the open windows and doors to hear the Good News.

It's hard to get the light shining again, as we are not talking about something that shines by flipping a switch. We are talking about a passion that burns so hot it cannot be contained in the privacy of our own thoughts.

[Byron Wade]

Sami - can definitely see where you are coming from based on your view/experience. You may have asked the more accurate question!

Dennis - definitely right in that we have not "let our light shine." May be the whole crux of the problem.

[Sami Mikhail]

This prompted me to write: The place of the "Mainline" Church in American Culture?

[Sami Mikhail]

Dennis:

Your comments resonate strongly with thoughts I have been having of late.

Hope the Holy Spirit guides us to answers.

[Brian Frick]

I agree with both sides of this conversation - it is easy to be a Christian today - but what kind of Christian? The ones that Rush Limbaugh and others espouse? A you are either with us or against us? You are either saved or in need of saving?
Or a loving, inviting, reformed, and welcoming faith? A faith based on the Grace that God has gifted us with that we struggle to live up to and reflect to others?
I would refer you to "Asphalt Jesus" by Eric Elnes of Countryside Community UCC in Omaha Nebraska (www.countrysideucc.org/). In his book about a walk across the country spreading a reformed message of faith - he breaks down Christians into 3 groups - Good Friday Christians - these folks create more heat than light. They are pointing out what is wrong with the world, the sin in the world, and how we need to repent. This is a group that you are either with us or against us. They get the lion's share of the media attention.
The next group is the Holy Saturday Christians. What did the disciples do on Holy Saturday? They hid in the upper room. They were afraid to be labeled a follower of Jesus for fear of persecution. Today, the majority of Christians, according to Elnes, live in Holy Saturday. Because the Good Friday Christians have hijacked the conversation, they don't want to be seen as "those Bible Banging" Christians by friends or others in the "secular" world we live in.
But the exciting part of Eric's vision is Easter Christians. These are Christians living a life of faith as they believe God is calling them to. They welcome others to join them. They walk with others on their faith journey. They exhibit and rejoice in the gifts God has bestowed upon them and others, and they are willing to listen to and love those who disagree with them, because that is what God would have them do.

So yes and no. It is easy to be a Christian, but hard to live in Easter. Live the resurrection where God, through Jesus, triumphed over death and over the world that persecuted others. They could not kill Jesus, he was beyond that. Jesus is calling us to live that life, even unto death (even unto embarrassment or fear of being labeled).
How many of us are brave enough to do that?
If we keep living in Holy Saturday, we can be assured that our faith and our denomination will continue to shrink.

[HID kit]

Good thoughts. It seems to me that we have done a poor job of letting our light shine (Mt. 5:16). Instead, we have allowed and encouraged private faith