The Challenges Of The Church In The 21st Century

The global Church in the 21st Century is confronted by a challenge as it enters the new critical hour in the spirit. Quality and sustainable leadership that reveres and honor godly values is slowly diminishing in the Church. This is due to falsity, compromise, greed and corruption that had subtly crept into the hearts of some of the Leaders or Shepherds. Subsequently God's people become susceptible to the enemy's attacks and plunder, thus never attaining to their full growth and potential in Jesus Christ. This is that season where the leaders need to undergo a new leadership and structural adjustments, so as to position the Church to perform her end-time great exploits for the season. God is therefore placing a heavenly demand upon the quality of Church leadership and the definition of the Church globally. God also wants to see a new quality breed of Christians that will emerge in this last day. Christians, that will cause an irrevocable impact to the kingdom of darkness. Its not quantity but quality that God seeks. Through this book the Father is exposing, redressing and blessing the Church with strategies for breakthrough.

From the author of Dying for Change, a book on how to bring change to a local church to meet the challenges of a changing society.

The twenty-first century consists of an ever-evolving diverse population (multiculturally, internationally, racially, and sexually) whose ideas and beliefs are as diverse as the population itself. This has caused the church to face challenges she has never faced before. There was a time when Christians were a majority in this country and were free to speak about Jesus, prayer, or sin without fearing repercussions. However, the twenty-first century has ushered in a paradigm shift toward something called "un-Christian" and "tolerance" culture. This new "pluralistic" culture is one where everything is tolerated/accepted, with one exception: Christianity. Church attendance is declining, and fewer people understand scripture or know anything about Jesus. Therefore, their belief systems do not align with scripture. Church leaders must step out of the "church bubble," face today's world, and plan how they will meet these challenges. In this book, the author discusses the following twelve major challenges confronting twenty-first-century church leaders as well as some strategies for meeting these challenges and reversing negativity: un-Christian phenomenon, blending the generational groups, religious pluralism vs. exclusivism, open theism vs. classical theism, gender-neutral Bible controversy, egalitarianism vs. complementarianism, LGBTQ conversation, postmodernism and religion, futurism vs. preterism, biblical illiteracy in the church, the need for racial reconciliation, and continual disintegration of American families.

This important book is needed today. The challenges that Christian churches face have changed immensely in the last quarter-century. One of the central issues facing the churches everywhere in the world is their missionary presence in their nations and societies. The authors of this volume are among the world’s leading missiological thinkers and represent major Christian traditions in Europe, Africa, and North America. In this new century, the Christian church faces new situations that include, for example, the fall of communism; the globalization of culture; cultural and religious minorities and multiple religious majorities in nearly every country; ethnic and interreligious tensions; relativism and individualism in Western culture; the rise of a global impact of a postmodern world view; poverty in poor countries and in urban areas in wealthy countries; and the decline of Western cultural authority and, with notable exceptions, of religious authority generally. This book speaks of ways in which Christian churches are seeking to respond to these challenges. The purpose of this book is to describe some of the main challenges facing the churches in mission today, particularly with reference to inter-religious conversations all over the world. The title of this volume has been derived from the theme of the 24th General Assembly of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) at Accra in August, 2004 whose theme is, “That All May Have Life in Fullness.”

Winner of the Christianity Today Book of the Year Award (1995) “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.” So begins this award-winning intellectual history and critique of the evangelical movement by one of evangelicalism’s most respected historians. Unsparing in his indictment, Mark Noll asks why the largest single group of religious Americans—who enjoy increasing wealth, status, and political influence—have contributed so little to rigorous intellectual scholarship. While nourishing believers in the simple truths of the gospel, why have so many evangelicals failed to sustain a serious intellectual life and abandoned the universities, the arts, and other realms of “high” culture? Over twenty-five years since its original publication, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind has turned out to be prescient and perennially relevant. In a new preface, Noll lays out his ongoing personal frustrations with this situation, and in a new afterword he assesses the state of the scandal—showing how white evangelicals’ embrace of Trumpism, their deepening distrust of science, and their frequent forays into conspiratorial thinking have coexisted with surprisingly robust scholarship from many with strong evangelical connections.

Where is Pentecostal theology going in the 21st century? How does it address issues of spirituality, politics and justice? What does it have to offer the worldwide Church? These and other vital questions are explored here by leading Pentecostal theologians from the UK and the USA as they assess the challenges and opportunities facing Pentecostalism today. With stimulating contributions by Joel Edwards, Charlotte Johnson, Steven Land, Douglas Nelson, Phyllis Thompson and Keith Warrington, this book offers valuable guidance to church leaders and to students training for the ministry throughout the Pentecostal world. ‘There is passion and information here, advice for the present and hope for the future.’ William K. Kay, Institute for Pentecostal Theology, Regents Theological College ‘When we consider that one in four Christians are Pentecostals, this book is a “must” for all who are seeking to improve their knowledge of Pentecostal theology and recognize its distinctives.’ Bishop Dr Donald Bolt, New Testament Church of God England and Wales

The twenty-first century consists of an ever-evolving diverse population (multiculturally, internationally, racially, and sexually) whose ideas and beliefs are as diverse as the population itself. This has caused the church to face challenges she has never faced before. There was a time when Christians were a majority in this country and were free to speak about Jesus, prayer, or sin without fearing repercussions. However, the twenty-first century has ushered in a paradigm shift toward something called "un-Christian" and "tolerance" culture. This new "pluralistic" culture is one where everything is tolerated/accepted, with one exception: Christianity. Church attendance is declining, and fewer people understand scripture or know anything about Jesus. Therefore, their belief systems do not align with scripture. Church leaders must step out of the "church bubble," face today's world, and plan how they will meet these challenges. In this book, the author discusses the following twelve major challenges confronting twenty-first-century church leaders as well as some strategies for meeting these challenges and reversing negativity: un-Christian phenomenon, blending the generational groups, religious pluralism vs. exclusivism, open theism vs. classical theism, gender-neutral Bible controversy, egalitarianism vs. complementarianism, LGBTQ conversation, postmodernism and religion, futurism vs. preterism, biblical illiteracy in the church, the need for racial reconciliation, and continual disintegration of American families.

This book represents not only the storms of life which the authors have experienced but also their unquenchable hope for a better tomorrow. For each, the Black church has been not only a source of personal valuation; but it has also been the foundation upon which each has been sustained, renewed, and revived. The authors hope that the reader of this book will also find something of personal, communal, and spiritual value which will assist them in maintaining hope in a world gone mad. Readers will find the various roles the Black church has provided over the years, along with some examples which can be replicated in twenty-first-century America. The authors believe in the immortal words of Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, former president of Morehouse College who said, "It must be borne in the mind that the tragedy in life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream. It is not a disaster to be unable to capture your ideal, but it is a disaster to have no ideal to capture. It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is a sin." God bless. Creigs C. Beverly, PhD Olivia D. Beverly, PhD