Keeping the faith

March 8, 2007

By John W. Kennedy

Last year my brother returned to northeastern Pennsylvania for his 45th high school class reunion. His class had never held a reunion before and he hadn’t been in the town for many years, so what he found there discouraged him.

The once-bustling downtown he remembered from the early 1960s had turned into empty storefronts and vacant lots. Even his high school had been converted into public-assistance housing. Perhaps saddest of all, the mainline church where my dad preached for nearly a decade was struggling to stay open. When Pop left in 1963, about 1,000 people attended each Sunday; now there are 40 going to the cavernous stone building that takes up a city block. The parsonage is up for sale and the pastor’s position has been cut to part-time.

Certainly changing demographics played a role, but so did decreasing denominational standards. My mom recently came across an outline my dad had typed around half a century ago for a new members class. Those wanting to be a part of the church had to recite answers to 48 questions, including naming the Ten Commandments, repeating the Beatitudes, naming all the books of the Bible, listing the apostles, describing the gifts of the Spirit, defining sin and repentance, and on and on.

I’m not advocating months of study to join a church today. It wouldn’t fly in today’s culture. But perhaps we’ve made being a church member too easy. Many of us do a pretty good job of fellowshipping, praising and giving. But how are we doing in knowing the basics of our faith, the tenets Jesus cherished and taught? Consider Christ’s words:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand” (Matthew 7:24,26, NIV).

John W. Kennedy is news editor of Today’s Pentecostal Evangel.