Warning Shots?
Is God firing warning shots across the bow of the Church in our day? Is He trying to get our attention? Warning us that our wealth and ease, neglect of our mission, cavalier attitude toward His law, and indulgence in worldly ways are putting us in danger of judgment? If we extrapolate Israel’s experience into our own time, we can see that God may well be joining the witness of our circumstances with the witness of many faithful prophets to call His people to seek Him so that we may be revived (cf. Amos 5:4,6,14).

Want: Spiritual malnutrition is evident on every hand in the contemporary Church. Even pastors in the most outwardly successful churches describe their congregations as “a mile wide and an inch deep.” Books, retreats, conferences, and seminars on spirituality and spiritual formation are the latest rage, and people are lining up at the troughs to find some real substance for their souls. Apparently there is little in the way of “meat on the table” in most of our churches.

Unequal distribution: In our day a handful of churches are getting all the attention. In the community of faith, “everybody knows” where the blessings of God are most to be found. These churches have thousands of members, grand and spacious facilities, large budgets, and an abundance of leaders and programs to meet everyone’s need. The showers of blessing seem to be raining on them without end. Meanwhile, inner-city, neighborhood, and rural churches are drying up, and members continue to drift from the dry spigots of their familiar churches to drink from what seem to them the refreshing waters of the mega-church across town. But it’s a mirage. They aren’t there very long before they begin to feel thirsty in their souls. Most Christians today are not satisfied with the state of their walks with the Lord, and this includes those who attend the mega-churches about which we hear so much. God’s design is for all His churches to be fountains of living water. This unequal distribution of His blessings should warn us that something is out of whack in the Body of Christ.

Hardship: America’s churches may not be experiencing economic hardship. Indeed, most of them seem to be doing just fine, and the mega-churches, of course, are utterly flush with funds. But what about our social, moral, and cultural impact? Not only are we failing to prosper in this area, but, as some believers have it, life’s getting downright tough here in the good old U.S.A. Some American Christians are even beginning to use the language of persecution, incredible as that may seem, to describe the situation of evangelical churches. Not only are we failing to have an impact in our culture and society in profound and lasting ways, but we feel like everybody hates us—especially the media—and wishes we would just shut up. Is this shriveling of our social and cultural impact yet another warning shot from the Lord?