Lost: The Biblical Order in the Church and in the Home

By Scott Brown:

The church is in such a state. She needs energy invested in things that are foundational.

I am sounding an alarm.

I advocate that an "in-course correction" is necessary in the church. Modernity has taken its toll, and the Bride of Christ has become more of a reflection of her culture than her Lord and Savior. She has, in her attempts to be relevant, lost some of her basic practices designed to make her beautiful. I want her to recognize (and shed) some of her accumulated practices and attitudes that are harming her precious members:

* She was meant to be constantly "washed by the water of the Word" (Eph. 5:26), but her main occupations have removed her from her means of beautification.

* She has abandoned the basic discipling structures called for by the Apostles, and replaced them with lowest common denominator activities that have devolved her maturity and strength.

* She has structured herself to bypass God’s primary delivery system for the knowledge of the treasures of God, and has adopted non- biblical methods for training her children.

The results have been disastrous. We are losing ground in each generation. At this point, we are in danger of almost completely losing the younger generation.

Cold statistics profile the harm:
Those who identify Christ as Savior has been dropping with each generation;
Builders (54 years and above) 65%
Boomers 35%
Busters 15%
Bridgers/Mosaics (4 years -24) 4%
(Source: Promise Keepers conference speaker, Raleigh NC 2002)

This loss is staggering and we will not feel the full impact for at least three decades. If you think the church is secularized now, just wait a few years. Not only will the churches be full of unbelievers, they will be filled with almost completely secularized people, and they will be suffering under an unparalleled brokenness as a consequence of their departure.

Do you have children? There is a forceful tide that is sweeping many of them away to destruction:
* 70% of evangelical youth (involved in a youth group) will leave the church after high school graduation.
* 50% of Southern Baptist youth will leave the faith after college.
* Divorce rates in the most conservative churches in the Southeast are higher than the liberal denominations in every part of the country and higher than those of unbelievers.

We are losing our children-
We are losing our youth-

What is the root cause?
I submit that the Biblical order for the church and the home has been unintentionally abandoned. The Biblical equipping structures have been set aside, marriages have been dishonored, and fathers are not personally teaching their children anymore. Exemplary fatherhood has been reduced to taking the family to church and showing up at soccer games and recitals. What is so disturbing is that the churches are aiding and abetting the abandonment. The men in our churches, instead of plunging their energy into saturating themselves in God’s Word; and training the future business, government and church leaders; and preparing their children to be evangelists, deacons, elders, mentors and "Titus two women"; they spend their strength on activities that ignore their basic roles as leaders and teachers of the next generation.

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