“There is no better, nor no worse, witness for Jesus than the Church” – Anon

This was said to me by a friend a long time ago^[1], and I kind-of agree with him – well, at least on the second part of the quote; not quite so much the first!^[2] And of course this was before the major excesses of American Evangelical Christianity tacitly, or even openly, supporting the inhuman actions and policies of the current (2025) President of the United States, and the Evangelical-led sweeping destruction of democracy through the Evangelical-inspired ‘Project 2025’. I don’t do politics on here, but I do do faith-related matters, and the actions of these people do not in any way reflect the faith that I follow, nor indeed do they reflect the teachings of its Founder. End of story; no further comment required.

Fortunately, at the moment, it’s nowhere near as bad as this in my country; we tend to be a lot more open-minded and cosmopolitan in our outlook. But if the Religious people in Evangelicalism have their way, that could of course change.

If you are an Evangelical in the UK, or any other country for that matter, do not let your leadership lull you into the idea that Jesus is, or Christianity ‘should be’, on the ‘side’ of any political movement. Jesus is above all that, and His people are too if they would but realise it. Remember the Jerusalem priests at the ‘trial’ of Jesus – who really should have known better – shouting out to Pontius Pilate, “We have no king but Caesar!” (Jn 19:15) Don’t, please don’t, be like them. As a Christian, I have no King but Jesus.

So, let’s hear from the brilliant John Pavlovitz, speaking from back in 2017. Things have only got worse since then:

Growing-up in the Church, I was taught that the worst thing one could be was a non-believer; that nothing was as tragic as a doomed soul that condemned itself by rejecting God. The religion of my childhood drew a sharp, clear line between the saved and the damned. All that mattered was making sure someone found themselves on the better side of this line—and the Atheists and Humanists didn’t have a shot.

In light of this supposed truth, the heart of the faith (I was told), was to live in a way that reflected the character and love of Jesus so vividly, so beautifully, that others were compelled to follow after him; that a Christian’s living testimony might be the catalyst for someone’s conversion. The Bible called it “making disciples” and it was the heart of our tradition. As the venerable hymn declared, we Jesus people were to be known by our love.

What a difference a couple of decades make.

Just ask around. People outside the Church will tell you: love is no longer our calling card. It is now condemnation, bigotry, judgment and hypocrisy. In fact, the Christianity prevalent in so much of America right now isn’t just failing to draw others to Christ, it is actively repelling them from him. By operating in a way that is in full opposition to the life and ministry of Jesus—it is understandably producing people fully opposed to the faith that bears his name.

In record numbers, the Conservative American Church is consistently and surely making Atheists—or at the very least it is making former Christians; people who no longer consider organized religion an option because the Jesus they recognize is absent. With its sky-is-falling hand-wringing, its political bed-making, and its constant venom toward diversity, it is giving people no alternative but to conclude, that based on the evidence of people professing to be Godly—that God is of little use. In fact, this God may be toxic.

And that’s the greatest irony of it all: that the very Evangelicals who’ve spent that last 50 years in this country demonizing those who reject Jesus—are now the single most compelling reason for them to do so. They are giving people who suspect that all Christians are self-righteous, hateful hypocrites, all the evidence they need. The Church is confirming the outside world’s most dire suspicions about itself.

These people aren’t stupid. They realize that bigotry, even when it is wrapped in religion or justified by the Bible or spoken from a pulpit is still bigotry. They can smell the putrid stench of phony religion from a mile away—and this version of the Church, frankly reeks of it. People are steering clear in droves, choosing to find meaning and community and something that resembles love outside its gatherings.

With every persecution of the LGBTQ community, with every unprovoked attack on Muslims, with every planet-wrecking decision, with every regressive civil rights move—the flight from Christianity continues. Meanwhile the celebrity preachers and professional Christians publicly beat their breasts about the multitudes walking away from God, oblivious to the fact that they are the impetus for the exodus.

And one day soon, these same religious folks will look around, lamenting the empty buildings and the irrelevance of the Church and a world that has no use for it, and they’ll wonder how this happened. They’ll blame a corrupt culture, or the liberal media, or a rejection of Biblical values, or the devil himself—but it will be none of those things.

No, the reason the Church soon will be teetering on the verge of extinction and irrelevance, will be because those entrusted to perpetuate the love of Jesus in the world, lost the plot so horribly, and gave the world no other option but to look elsewhere for goodness and purpose and truth.

Soon these Evangelicals will ask why so much of America has rejected Jesus, and we will remind them of these days, and assure them that they have not rejected Jesus at all—they just found no evidence of him in their Church or in them.

Original post can be found here

“Soon these Evangelicals will ask why so much of America has rejected Jesus, and we will remind them of these days, and assure them that they have not rejected Jesus at all—they just found no evidence of him in their Church or in them” – and this is exactly what is happening now.

People are leaving American Christianity in droves, and this is one of the main reasons why – although there are of course many.

Note, though, that this does not mean that people are leaving Jesus, nor abandoning their faith in Him; not all of them, at any rate. Like most forms of genuine ‘deconstruction’, they have simply left behind the parts of their faith that they have seen to be unproductive, counterproductive, or just plain wrong, and carried on with those parts that still work for them. This is healthy and I wish it was more widespread! I really don’t think that people can honestly hold to such deadly anti-Christian beliefs and still walk closely with Jesus, if I’m honest. Your thoughts may vary, of course; but still, like me, you need to listen to Jesus and hear what He’s saying to you personally.

Grace and Peace to you.

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