The once proud mainline denominations that nourished the faith of our youth are exiting the cultural stage like extras in someone else’s worldview drama. Sensing declining attendance they have tried to regain their standing by trying to become more culturally relevant, but in the process have become spiritually irrelevant. Instead of marketing their salvation specialty, they began offering 31 flavors of spiritual ice cream which sadly tasted only of vanilla. Disappointed by a lack of flavor, their regular customers left the sanctuary and entered the marketplace of ideas looking for a mystical sweet shop that could offer bland spirituality at a cheaper price.

The mainline denominations failed to see that the only church model that actually promotes growth is both orthodox and conservative. We see this displayed in the rapidly growing church in Latin America and Africa. Ironically, these third world Christians now consider the European and American first-world to be their mission field.

People aren’t stupid; they know that their spiritual thirst can only be quenched by pure living water and not religiously relabeled cultural tap water. The church that once contained the living and breathing word of God has had the wind knocked out of it and seems unable to get its breath back. It finds itself on relativistic life support, a shell of its former self, and the world shakes its head as it walks by and tells us the humane thing to do is to pull the plug. The Good News is that God is willing to resuscitate any church willing to step out of its postmodern iron lung and take a deep breath of His life-giving Holy Spirit.

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4: 21-24)