The State of the Church
2013
Pastor Eric J. Hanson
Here in the United States, much has been written on the topic of the Church’s condition. The books, seminars, angry articles, despairing articles, and sermons on this topic by radio and TV preachers are seemingly endless.
Depending on who you listen to, you will hear widely varying reports about the spiritual condition and the intentions of any given famous preacher. These men and women truly live under a never blinking spotlight. Some of them are indeed questionable in their theology or their tactics. Others are perfectly sound in their beliefs and their practices, but get blasted by critics anyway.
We, who keep track of such things, also hear the sad stories of struggling small churches which have remained true to the Bible’s core message, and which were having some real impact in their community 50 years ago, but which today are on the brink of closing their doors, or have already done so.
In addition to this; there are many churches still meeting, where the Gospel of Jesus Christ in no longer proclaimed, churches which were once vibrant in championing the genuine Gospel message of salvation from eternal separation from God, indeed, salvation from Hell itself, by means of saving, life changing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and by no other means. Unfortunately, today in these pulpits, what is being proclaimed is gay marriage, sexual liberation, hyper environmentalism which worships the creation much more than the creator, and many other causes which either are totally opposite of what God intends, or else have nothing to do with God at all. Such places also proclaim that everyone gets into Heaven, because there never was such a thing as sin against a Holy God. These so-called churches are spiritual train wrecks.
In truth, such organizations are no longer part of the Church that Jesus Christ is building, having separated themselves from Him through unbelief. They are no longer “called out ones”, which is what the true Church is, but they are peddlers of a counterfeit gospel, having abandoned the Faith.
Maine
Maine is a place where the instances of all of these things are many. About ten years ago, an effort was taken up by the Gallop organization to measure the spiritual health of each state. After huge surveys were done nationwide, sampling many thousands of people in each state and several million nationally, the results were not good for Maine. We came in 48th out of the 50 states in % of people reporting themselves as believers in Jesus Christ, having been born again. Additionally, two of our counties were the least churched in America, having the lowest % of faithful churchgoers of any counties in the nation.
Then, last year, the results of another such huge assessment of the spiritual health of the people of our nation, was released. Again, the results were poor for Maine. This time our state came in dead last in the % of our people who are born again believers. This is even worse than the situations in Vermont and Massachusetts.
It was not always this way. In the second half of the 1800s, following the nationwide Second Great awakening revivals, Maine was aflame with zeal for God. Our state Motto, “I Lead”, or “Derigo” was a reality, not an empty shell.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Brunswick was home to Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote the amazing book Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This book grew out of her deep faith and deep convictions that God was leading her to do something to end slavery in the United States. This deeply Christian book went on to become the fastest selling, widest selling book ever published in the 1800s. It was second only to the Bible by the time of the Civil War.
Bowdoin College and Bates College were hotbeds of the Faith. Harriet Stowe’s husband was a professor at Bowdoin, and he greatly influenced the young Joshua Chamberlain in the late 1840s.
Joshua Chamberlain
Chamberlain later went on to champion the Faith in all arenas of life. In those days, in order to graduate Bowdoin, a student had to demonstrate a working knowledge of ancient New Testament Greek. Chamberlain went way beyond this, demonstrating mastery of the subject, and mastery of the New Testament. He then went on to seminary for 3 years; learn Hebrew in depth, and came back to be a professor of Bowdoin, with fluency in a total of 10 languages.
When the Civil War called, he resigned his professorship, joined the Army, and quickly rose through the ranks. He was a hero at Gettysburg, leading his men to victory at Little Round Top, when it seemed that defeat was the only possible outcome.
After the war, Chamberlain went back to Bowdoin and rose to its presidency, proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ every step of the way.
The Temperance Movement
In the late 1800s, large numbers of the faithful here in Maine were heartbroken over the plight of the millions under a different kind of slavery. Drinking had become a scourge of the land among those who did not know the Lord. The problem got so bad that between 20% and 50% of the workers would show up to work already drinking, first thing in the morning, in any given mill, factory, or woodlot. Many of them carried flasks, and grew progressively drunker throughout the day. The number of men who were getting maimed or killed on the job as the result of such drinking was becoming a national tragedy. Large numbers of women and children were being thrown into starvation level poverty because of the monster of unbridled drinking in the land.
Due to the diligent work of many true believers all over Maine; especially women, the movement to do something about this, picked up momentum all over the state. Soon Maine became the first dry state. We also prospered and expanded greatly in those decades.
All of these things happened because Maine was a stronghold of the Christian Faith in those years. A very high % of Mainers in those days were true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, who followed Him without reservation. Their whole way of looking at the World was through a lens of God’s Word.
Today & Tomorrow
Today, it is time to get back on track. In light of the fact that Maine is #50 of the fifty states in the areas of belief and church participation; I wish to lay out a few things.
1. Jesus said “I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18) -context: Revelation knowledge of Who Jesus really is… (When God reveals and draws, nothing can stop it!)
2. Jesus said “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be my witnesses … and to the ENDS OF THE EARTH. (Acts 1: 8) –context: We truly are the ends of the Earth in these times.
3. It is on our shoulders to reach our own generation with the Gospel. We are under the charge given here, as is every generation of believers.
4. It is on our shoulders to teach new converts everything the Lord has taught us. (Matthew 28:20) In this way, we make disciples, not just converts.
5. Action steps:
a. Fully disciple each convert.
b. Start a church in each town where there is no genuine Gospel preaching church.
c. Hosanna Church is to participate in this aggressively via small groups, reopening of closed buildings eventually, etc.
