Crumbling Foundations: The Wake-Up Call the Church Can’t Ignore

The numbers are out, and they are a massive wake-up call the church can’t ignore. Between 2010 and 2020, the share of the world’s population that claims any religious faith dropped from 84% to about 75.8%. ^[1]

While the world population grows, Christianity is losing, dropping by 1.8 percentage points. ^[2]

We are watching the foundations of our society crumble right before our eyes. The decline of the West isn’t a political accident; it is the direct result of a modern church that has abandoned its primary duty. Like Psalm 11:3 says, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

The First Government

We have forgotten a very simple truth. The family was the first government God ever created. Long before there were kings, presidents, or parliaments, there were fathers, mothers, and children. Everything in our world is built on the family unit.

When a home is built on the work Jesus accomplished on the cross, you get godly members in a church. When churches are strong, you get godly leaders in the community and the nation.

The church has many duties and among them is the obligation to speak truth to the world. Especially the occupants of its pews. That’s by God’s design. The church is supposed to guide and direct families and governments. But today, the modern church has dropped the ball. We have stopped training families in their God-given duties.

Watch the pastor or priest squirm when reading passages about headship & hierarchy, authority, or the big one: money! We don’t want to offend the feminists or the lukewarm with straightforward doctrine. They might be offended and leave. At least have a discussion on the hard passages!

We treat the church like a country club instead of a training ground for the soul.

This failure has led to a weak, watered-down faith. Many modern churches are embedded in liberal secular humanism, offering a “benign and useless” discipleship (if any discipleship at all).

This kind of teaching completely fails to make Christians relevant combatants for today’s intense cultural battles. If we want to survive, we have to change our strategy entirely.

“You’ve got to alienate your children from the surrounding culture.”

Bob Soco, a well-known Christian debater who speaks at London’s famous Speakers’ Corner, says we must take a radically different path. He argues that we must give our children an identity that stands in stark contrast to the world. “You’ve got to alienate your children from the surrounding culture,” Soco warns ^[3].

Groups like the Amish and Orthodox Jews keep their kids because they make their faith the absolute center of everything. They do not try to look like the world. They try to look like their Creator.

The Shadow of the Islamic Shift

While the Western church sleeps, others are waking up and taking territory.

According to a 10 year study published in 2020, Islam the fastest-growing religion in the world ^[4]. It is eagerly stepping into the holes left behind by liberal progressive politics. We must remember our history to understand our future.

Before the 8th and 9th centuries, much of the Middle East and North Africa were strong Christian lands with strong Churches. Islam took over those areas, and it took a strong, united West to finally stop its massive spread.

Today, we are seeing a similar shift right in our own backyards. In the United States, roughly 101 million people now identify as religiously unaffiliated ^[5]. This cultural void will not stay empty for long.

If we do not fill it with truth, someone else will fill it with lies.

Signs of Supernatural Revival

Yet, there is a bright spot on the radar. Even in the middle of this darkness, God is moving in incredible ways outside the West.

J. D. King points out that we are seeing a massive “conversion explosion” in the Middle East ^[6]. He writes, “More Muslims have committed to follow Christ in the last 10 years than in the last 15 centuries of Islam” ^[7].

“More Muslims have committed to follow Christ in the last 10 years than in the last 15 centuries of Islam.”

This proves that the Gospel works best when it is preached with absolute power and conviction. It does not work when it tries to fit in with modern, useless thinking.

A Call for “Primitive Christianity” — A Return to Truth

Some critics—read liberals from the 20th century—say the church needs to become more modern, inclusive, and “less offensive” to survive and retain the younger generation. They could not be more wrong.

History clearly shows that the church grew exponentially when it was under intense persecution. The Apostles and the early Church Fathers didn’t try to be popular or nice. They tried to be faithful to the Word.

Even Benjamin Franklin saw the deep value in this older, stronger faith. He spoke about returning to “primitive Christianity,” a faith that is simple, honest, and powerful ^[8]. We do not need new tricks or slick marketing campaigns. We need the old Truth, which is the new Truth, which is the Truth that has always been. Inclusion without a distinct biblical identity is just a slow, polite path to apostasy.

We need the old Truth, which is the new Truth, which is the Truth that has always been.

We must take heed of these global signs of revival. It is time for a spiritual “reconquista” ^[9] of our own congregations. We need to build Christian economic solidarity, supporting businesses that stand for truth so believers aren’t afraid of losing their jobs.

Most importantly, we must return to training families. If we fix the family, we fix the future. It starts at home, at the kitchen table, with an open Bible and a heart for the King of Kings.

Let us return to the solid rock of Jesus Christ before the ground completely washes away.