Message for 2023: It’s time to openly admit and repent for the failure of Christianity in America and the West in the 21st century!

In 1904, Evan Roberts, a young Welshman, was greatly distressed by what he called “the failure of Christianity” in his country. He began to continually cry out for a spiritual awakening and soon church services in Wales were disrupted by thousands of people desperate to get right with God and to listen to and obey Him. In two years more than 100,000 people in Wales were transformed by the risen Jesus.

Christianity has lost its influence in the West. For decades now Western civilization has been called post-Christian. Now it’s looking to government and politics to fix things and thus self-admitting that Christianity hasn’t been able to fix them. How has Christianity failed to be a major influence in the Western world?

I believe that Western Christianity has failed by

• Making church attendees rather than sold-out disciples.
• Presenting Jesus as a historical figure rather than as a present moment reality.
• Making Christians dependent on a pastor and his sermons rather than on the living Jesus.
• Focusing on proclaiming the Gospel to church members instead of to the unchurched.
• Following the culture instead of leading the culture to the risen Jesus.
• Neglecting to train church members to testify and openly describe their relationship with Jesus.
• Trying to explain Jesus instead of demonstrating His presence and reality.
• Ignoring the writings of the early Christians and of the ancient Jews who walked with God (as compiled in the Bible) and treating them as if they are irrelevant fables.
• Not training Christ-followers to continually pursue purity, holiness, and freedom from sins of thought, word, and deed.
• Embracing self-righteousness more than brokenness, humility, and repentance.
• Turning Christianity into human-led religious organizations instead of a Spirit-led movement.
• Compartmentalizing Christianity into a Sunday morning time slot and presenting it as having little to do with the rest of the week.
• Gathering to follow and be led by a religious program instead of by the living Jesus.
• Focusing on fund raising and buildings instead of on serving hurting people.
• Neglecting to train church members to get on fire and stay on fire with passionate love for and obedience to Jesus.
• Breaking the body of Christ into 40,000+ denominations and millions of independent churches.
• Promoting the names of churches and Christian leaders more than the name of Jesus.
• Trusting in politics more than in the living Jesus.
• Turning grace into an excuse for sin and rebellion against God’s commands.
• Looking at the Bible as something to analyze and understand with the mind instead of as a love-letter to touch the heart.
• Teaching people to follow their desires instead of the resurrected Jesus.

Can the sinking ship of Western Christianity be rescued today? Yes! If you have a relationship with Jesus don’t hide it. Describe it! Stir it up! Listen to Him throughout the day and do what He says.