Stopping The Downward Spiral of the Western Church, Pt. 1: Fellowship Matters

How do Christians, especially in America, stop the Downward Spiral of the Western Church? In this first part of the series, we explore why fellowship matters.
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Videos Used or Referenced:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUFvA9Dr0bA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ1f9vliwiA&t=383s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjOkCMtzlOs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8wLBOlCKPU
https://twitter.com/TheAshenLad/status/1626289458705313792?t=iXguswEyTsOFeogE_mqwzw&s=19

Disclaimer: I am a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America and, unless otherwise stated, my opinions are my own and I do not speak as a representative for my Diocese. That is what my Bishop is for. For more information on the ELDoNA visit eldona.org

00:00 The Decline of Christianity
01:35 What should We Do?
03:06 Caveats
04:40 Biblical Arguments for Church Fellowship
07:21 The Strategies that will be Useful
09:34 Answering the "Stay and Fight" Objections
12:36 What about the Buildings, Schools, and Institutions?
16:48 Getting into Fellowship with Smaller Church Bodies
18:42 Gutting the Liberal Church Structures
20:22 Demoralization
22:26 Considering the Next Generation
27:16 Going Forward

Stopping The Downward Spiral of the Western Church, Pt. 1: Fellowship Matters

Saying that traditional Christianity of the West, especially in America, is in a crisis, at this point,
is like pointing out that water is wet. It isn’t just the secular, Christ-hating world that we are
contending with either. Battles are being fought in every denomination from Mainline to
Faultline in the hopes that Conservative, traditional Christianity will survive in the historic
Churches and denominations that have seemingly been stolen from those who hold to an
uncompromising biblical worldview. Even the so-called ‘conservative’ denominations are
waffling in ways that would have been seen as baffling and bizarre less than a decade ago. In
fact, just last week I covered a post-mortem regarding the controversy over a publication put out
by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod which markets itself as the conservative alternative to
the too-far-gone Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)

So, when the question of ‘what shall we then do?’ is inevitably asked by those who wish to
remain faithful, there tend to be two general modes of thinking:
1) Stay and fight it out, after all, nobody accomplishes anything by simply running away
2) Schism over the slightest grievance, bunker down in conservative utopian conclaves, and
hope for the best
However, this video is here to present an alternative to both of the reductionist modes of thinking
that western Christendom finds itself in these days. What I would like to present is an alternative
to both the aforementioned proposals. An alternative that, I feel, captures the unwavering
fervency of our forefathers in the faith encased in an argument that is biblical and confessional in
nature.

The general strategy I am putting forth then is informed by a three-fold proposition:
1) An understanding of Fellowship informed by the Scriptures,
2) The need to be consistent in demonstrating faithful adherence to the Scriptures in the
actions of removing false teachers from our fellowships or removing yourself from such a
fellowship,
3) If removal of ourselves from these denominational fellowships becomes necessary-and at
this point we can clearly see that it is-then we must be willing to embrace the work
involved in planting mission Churches, bolstering smaller conservative denominations,
and winning the fight on our own terms.

#downwardspiral #christianity #history