Let Church
be the Church Acts 1:1-8 Introduction Think Together – What is the problem with “I’m
a Singer”? Past 12 months, there was a huge
trend in Korea. Almost all Korean people were watching a TV-show called “I’m a
Singer” on MBC every Sunday evening. Every
week, 7 top pop singers within Korea perform to compete against each other to
survive on this singing contest show. When this show was on TV, every
major portal site’s most searched key words were the names of the singers on
that show and the title of the songs they sang. At first, this show was
criticized for copying off foreign TV show format “survival competition.” But
it brought bigger meaning and huge impact for illuminating the worth of singers
who have amazing voices and who has come a long way called music before the
public. There were even people who said
to pastors to do “I’m a pastor” as a joke. Young people who were crazy about “Idol
singer” who rely more on visual aspects, they began to fall into these singers
who touch their hearts with songs interpreted in their own philosophy of music. But after a year, this TV show
encountered a crisis; popularity and viewing rates are continuously declining.
Episode by episode, why can’t we help but feel that this is turning into “Their
league: It’s about them”? Foremost, people seem to be fed up with the same way
of unfolding competition and interviews that pop up every minute like heavy
unnecessary seasoning in cooking. It is almost repulsive when
singers themselves take care of and complement each other. We can also sense some singers on that show,
they seem to be very nervous and be sensitive to the rankings on the outside,
yet inside they show complacent side thinking, “It’s not a bad deal even if I
lose since I already have several chances of appearing on TV and I got fame and
popularity as well.” Is it just this TV show?
Recently, Korean President Myongbak Lee is heading toward the end of his term
in office, now various problems began to appear on the surface. Every time,
presidents start their term, they resolve to do “new politics,” “clear
politics,” and “governing for everybody.” But when the term ends, you can see
that it is completely different from the picture they drew in the beginning. Is it the problem occurring only in the world? What about church
today? And what about us? Decline of
Christianity in Europe According
to the travelers who traveled around Europe, Christianity
is declining in the Europe which is home to Christianity. A critical evidence
is that many church buildings changed into bookstore or restaurants because
church gone through financial crisis due to radical reduction of believers.
Even churches that remain look terrible since they are not well-maintained. USA, decline
of Christian’s quality American
Christian community is facing a critical situation. To say it in short,
part-time Christians are increasing. They are enrolled in church, and go to
service constantly, yet instead of studying the Word of God, they do not even
read Bible, and interpret the Word in their own way of convenience. It also
appears that there is tendency of being stingy in sharing and serving. According
to George Barna, an expert on religion-related statistics in the US, in his
recently published book, “Futurecast” believers taking arbitrary or convenience
focused attitude is the general current in American Christianity. Compared to
10 years ago, believers who believed that Bible is entirely infallible were 46%
and now it’s reduced to 30%; people who belied that God is all powerful were
74%, and now it’s reduced to 60%; and there were drastic reduction in believing
good works by faith. The
percentage of believers reading Bible at home was also reduced from 45% to 35%;
percentage of attendance in Sunday school reduced from 23% to 15%; regular
attendance in worship service reduced as well from 49% to 40%. Decline of
Christianity and Growth of Islam While
Christianity is declining, Islam is growing drastically after 9/11. Today,
Islam is the fastest growing religion in America. It is estimated that Muslim population
has reached to 6.7 million. At this moment, there are around 1200 Islam mosques
in America; more than 60% of them were built within last 20 years. After 1994,
the rate of Muslim growth was 25%. In addition, there are around thousand Islam
centers and schools. Constantly, every year, there are around 135,000 people
converting to Islam. According to the report, while the Gulf War was going on
(1991.1.17~1991.2.28) almost 3000 Americans converted to Islam. Where
should church go? Just like that TV show, “I’m a Singer” we have encountered an
overall crisis. This TV show is airing last episode of the season today so that
they can reexamine overall program. They will especially strive to rethink of
the purpose and direction they had first intended when the show started. In the
same way, I want you and I to seriously think about how we can let church be
the church it supposed to be. What was the church when God first gave us? What
kind of church we have to go back to? Through Acts chapter 1 I want to share
with you. Body 1. The
foundation of the Church is the Word of God. (v.3)