I have been preaching through the book of Ezekiel where God's people are suffering and in exile. We live in a day where people are waking up that the world has changed and the American church is in exile. There is a growing secularism of our culture that is infiltrating the church making the church less relevant as the church tries to be more relevant and continue to lose members and influence.
Worse, more and more people who identify themselves as unchurched or Christians see a major disconnect between their identity and church membership. Some Christian leaders even promote "forget the church, follow Jesus." Why? The American church especially is perceived as standing on the side of the rich, abandoning the poor, and pursues it own agenda, success, and power.
Ecclesiology is so low among protestants that people think the church is little more than a loose association of Jesus Facebook friends. The church today is often viewed as a chaplain to the culture and society. The church seems less different than the world around it in how people live and behave. Church hoping is so frequent now as people view the church from a consumer perspective as one product competing against many other things for their time.
As the church now participates in Israel's story, it too also experiences exile and the need for restoration. The church is being challenged once again to convenantal faithful to Christ over and even against popular ideologies, national interests, and political causes. Can the church once again be God's new creation on earth? God's people are not just a bunch of individuals but a called out community with a mission to transform the world more into the shalom of God's kingdom.
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