Factors that Caused the Decline of evangelism in the early 4th century…
1. Churches flooded with nominal Christians who had less concern for spiritual matters than for political and social prestige.
2. Elaborate church structures replaced the simple house-churches.
3. Creeds replace spontaneous testimonies and prayers.
4. The need for aggressive evangelism seemed wasteful.
Can it be said that after 1,700 years, the four causes of evangelism decline are still with us today? You decide…
… Sixty times more is spent on alcohol as on missions
… Eighteen times more is spent on pets than missionary work done by all denominations in the U.S.
… One half of our churches do not have an active program of outreach
… The two fastest growing religions in U.S. are Mormonism, Islam
… Eighty percent of Americans claim to be Christian, but only twenty percent say “Christianity has to do with the acceptance of, or a personal relationship with, Jesus Christ”
La Compañía in Quito, Ecuador (in picture) claims to be the richest church in Latin America. Construction started in 1605 and completed in 1765. It boasts of seven tons of gold in its altars and a painting appraised at ten million U.S. dollars. When I last visited the church, the Ecuadorian government was paying to have all new gold leaf laid over the existing gold. As I left the beautiful structure with all of its money, I saw an Indian woman sitting on the steps begging for food.
Where did Christianity go wrong?
You can help us reach the people of Latin America: tithe.ly/give?c=5002127
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