Whenever churches focus too much time and energy on church membership, attendance, budget, and endowment, over time, they lose their way. Churches would be better off focusing on the realization of the church’s mission statement, which has to do with their sense of identity and purpose as communities of faith.
Christianity doesn’t exist. Christianity has never existed. These might seem like radical statements, but they are objectively true. For the past 2,000 years, there has never been a singular, united, global religion called “Christianity,” but rather millions of variations of a spirituality rooted in the person of Jesus that most scholars now refer to as “Christianities.”
In the majority of Christian churches every Easter and frequently around Christmas, we hear scripture reading proclaiming, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them, light has shined,” and I have to say, it really bothers me.