Seek First His Kingdom and His Righteousness...

Surprisingly to some, no doubt, the number of people practicing Christianity near the beginning of the 21st century is growing, and it is growing rapidly.

In parts of Asia and in Africa and in Central and Latin America, the number of new disciples is expanding in proportions that make the Awakenings in the West in recent centuries seem like times of spiritual lethargy.

I've heard it reported that at the beginning of the 20th century 80% of Christian lived in Europe and the Americas but by the beginning of the 21st century 20% of Christians were in the West and 80% were outside of it.

Those of us in the west watch an increasingly institutionalized version of Christianity consume the resources accumulated by the church in previous generations as the Christian movement decays and putrifies as it also becomes increasingly irrelevant to the culture.

And, why?

The Lord the institutional church lifts up is the One it claims created all things. When He sent disciples into the world to make more disciples, He said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore go..."

But, in the institutional church there is no power from the Lord.

Again, why is that so?

Taking my own tradition, with which I am most familiar, as an example, I believe it is because we disobey Jesus' command to seek God's Kingdom and righteousness before anything else. Clearly, some in the body want to be devoted to the Kingdom but, equally clearly, they only know how to focus on the flock, the church.

In our Mission Statement, we take a vision once focused first on the Great Commission and the "conversion of sinners," and make it about making disciples through the establishment of churches.

At our General Conference level, when we devote ourselves to expanding, it is through the department called, New Churches. Where is the Kingdom first thinking there? Our General Conference, where there is,  I believe, sincere concern for the Kingdom, is actually organized around an intense church focus.  The General Conference staff must repent.

In my own ERC, disobedience to the command to seek first God's Kingdom and righteousness is unabashed and blatant. It is organized entirely around the flock. It has, among others, Commissions on CHURCH Renewal, CHURCH and Pastor, and CHURCH Vocations.

It is any wonder that the Lord who commanded His people to seek first God's Kingdom and righteousness fails to bless this disobedience?

Taking my own tradition as an example, is there a mystery why the Western church is in decline and is at the point of decay?

Is it a wonder that it functions without the Lord's blessing!?

Jesus said that people who love Him will keep His commands. We can't even keep the commands about what come first.

We must repent. Why won't we?