WE MUST RECLAIM THE CHURCH BEFORE WE CAN EVEN BEGIN TO RECLAIM THE CULTURE

We Must Reclaim the Church
Before We Can Even Begin to Reclaim the Culture

By Brannon Howse  

My friend and Worldview Weekend speaker Ken Ham has written an excellent book with Britt Beemer and Todd Hillard entitled, Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it. Ham worked with a professional pollster to survey those who went to church every week or nearly every week and they deliberately polled conservative congregations, not liberal ones.  Let me share some highlights from their book that confirm that the church needs to be reclaimed before we even attempt to reclaim the culture.

·        A mass exodus is underway. Most youth of today will not be coming to church tomorrow. Nationwide polls and denominational reports are showing that the next generation is calling it quits on the traditional church. And it's not just happening on the nominal fringe; it's happening at the core of the faith.

·        Only 11 percent of those who have left the Church did so during the college years. Almost 90 percent of them were lost in middle school and high school. By the time they got to college they were already gone! About 40 percent are leaving the Church during elementary and middle school years!

·        If you look around in your church today, two-thirds of those who are sitting among us have already left in their hearts; it will only take a couple years before their bodies are absent as well.

·        The numbers indicate that Sunday school actually didn't do anything to help them develop a Christian worldview...The brutal conclusion is that, on the whole, the Sunday school programs of today are statistical failures.

·        Part of the concern is that the mere existence of youth ministry and Sunday school allows parents to shrug off their responsibility as the primary teachers, mentors, and pastors to their family.[1]

The answer to this crisis is Biblical worldview and apologetics training. The church in America has had billions of dollars at their disposal in modern times, with which to fulfill the Great Commission-making disciples of Jesus Christ. Training and equipping adults and students in apologetics and a Biblical worldview is how this is accomplished. Yet, with all their billions of dollars, the modern-church has largely failed. Untold billions have been spent on buildings and entertainment. This news report details that one church denomination has over 7 billion in their annuity fund. I mention this just to back up my claim that the modern church has had billions and billions at its disposal by which to aggressively teach a comprehensive Biblical worldview yet surveys reveal that only 1% of adults have a Biblical worldview, only 51% of our pastors have a Biblical worldview and our teens are leaving the church in huge numbers because of lack of Biblical worldview training.   

Yes, there are some churches in America that are being led by Godly pastors that are doing a great job and for them I am thankful. But this little group is just that. We have a few churches sponsor our conference each year but for the majority of our conferences we are simply renting their building. We have even had several churches tell us they would be very happy for us to rent their building for $7,000 to $10,000.

In fact, over the past few years we have found ourselves increasingly renting hotel ballrooms. We have numerous churches each year tell us that they do not let outside groups use their building. Thus, we have rented hotel ballrooms while "evangelical" churches sit empty down the street. Even after we explain to these churches that we are attempting to hold a free Biblical worldview conference in their town and we are willing to defer custodial fees and any other expenses we are still told no.

Many of the churches we talk to do not even understand what it is we are trying to accomplish. They are not familiar with the meaning of worldview or apologetics training.

Some of the churches understand perfectly what we are attempting to accomplish but they tell us we would not be welcome to rent their facility because their once evangelical church now embraces postmodernism, mysticism, rejects the exclusivity of Jesus Christ, the inerrancy of Scripture and most of the essential Christian doctrines.

Even among our truly evangelical, Bible-believing churches, how many churches teach the Biblical worldview for law, science, economics, history, family, social issues, and education? At church do adults or students learn about the lie of global warming, radical environmentalism, socialism, evolution, postmodernism, situational ethics, political correctness, population control, the myth of the separation of church and state, the Biblical worldview for marriage, the Biblical role of men and women and the lie of feminism? Every one of these issues can and must be addressed from the Bible and when we do so, we are not being political, we are making disciples that think and live like Christians.

Because the church is not answering the real-world questions of our students and the public school system is, Christian youth increasingly believe that at church we deal with "spiritual" issue but at school we talk about "real life" issues. The truth is, all issues are spiritual; every issue can be examined in light of Biblical principles but not if the church is only teaching Bible stories instead of Biblical principles contained in those Bible stories.

I founded Worldview Weekend in 1993 and all our conferences had an admission fee until three years ago. Because the church in America has largely neglected worldview and apologetic training and because the only hope for America is Biblical Christians that will oppose the evil that is washing over our nation, Worldview Weekend has been holding free Worldview Weekend Rallies for the past three years.

The window of freedom is closing on America and soon I, and our other speakers, could be prosecuted for the Biblical truth we are teaching. Hate-crime laws would do just this.

Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. As our religious liberties are lost so will our liberty.  Just this week, national news outlets reported that government officials would like to fine broadcasters up to $250 million dollars for programming that does not meet the government's approval. A principle and athletic director in Florida are going on trial for praying with adults over a booster club luncheon. If these men are found guilty they could be incarcerated. This is happening in America.

Worldview Weekend is training, equipping, and encouraging individuals of all ages that will be just like these men.  Our nation needs Christians that will stand up and speak out with the truth of a Biblical worldview even in the face of persecution and prosecution.

By the end of 2009, we will have held almost 50, free Worldview Weekend Rallies just in 2009 alone. These free rallies are on a Friday night, Saturday night, or Sunday night, and they are attended by elementary students, middle-school students, high-school students, college students, adults, and senior adults. You can see our entire fall schedule at www.worldviewweekendrally.com

At the end of 2009, we will have trained around 50,000 adults and students in person. This does not include our online training institute, DVDs, our free magazines, our free websites and our free radio program. Please click here to read the testimonials of students and adults that have been impacted by our free Worldview Weekend Rally.

As we will be explaining in detail at our Worldview Weekend Rallies this fall, the worldview war in America is connected to four major forces; occultism/pagan spirituality, the apostate church, corrupt government/corporate officials and the educational establishment. All four of these groups are aggressively working at the national and international level to accomplish their ultimate goal of global governance as predicted by many New Age writers like Alice Bailey. The Bible predicts this will occur and at this year's rallies we will look at how God would have us to respond to what is happening at break-neck speed.

Our focus must be on preserving our families and preparing them for what is to come. Our focus must be on evangelism and Biblical discipleship and preparing those that can lead the remnant. Our current schedule has us going to 22 cities in ten weeks to host the free, Worldview Weekend Rally. Each rally is free but you must register online and print out a ticket so we do not over-fill the building. This would have happen in a few cities but because we had a count, we were able to move the conference to a larger auditorium.

Here is just a sample of some of the topics we will cover at our rallies this fall:

How This Happened to America, Where We Are Going and The Biblical Response; Biblical Prophecies Being Fulfilled That Reveal the Supernatural Nature of God's Word; How This Can Be The Greatest Hour For the American Church; How to Prepare Committed Christians For What is Coming; The Worldviews and People Destroying America From the Grave and How Every Teen and Adult Must Respond To Be Protected; Refuting Evolution; What Happened to the Dinosaurs; The Impact of Evolution on America; Political Correctness is Cultural Marxism;  What the Bible Has to Say About The Coming One-World Religion, One-World Economy and Global Governance. How to Contend for the Faith in the 21st Century; Why Oprah's Pagan Spirituality is Doubling in America Every Eighteen Months and a Christian Response; Why Worldview Training Matters and Students Want it and much more.

 
For us to keep our fall schedule as is, I need your help.

1.)  If you see we are coming to a city near you will you please got to this website and order a quantity of our free magazines to distribute in your area? We really need your help in getting out the word that we are coming to town. Please get them to your local churches, Christian schools, home-school groups, Bible studies and others that will help distribute them. –Thank you. If we see people are not registering for a rally then we will know that that city is not interested in having the free Worldview Weekend Rally as a resource in their community and we will be forced to cancel the event. This has only happen three times in our 16 year history but it will happen again if a community does not want the rally.

2.)  We need you to pray that the Lord bless us with a great attendance of youth and adults. Please pray for our travel in safety, our health and that we will see lives impacted and changed to His honor and glory. Please let us know you are praying for us with an e-mail info@worldviewweekend.com or by offering feedback to this article at the bottom of the page. We would like to know we have thousands of you praying for this fall's conferences.

3.)  We need your financial support. Will you help us equip thousands of adults and students with the ability to contend for the faith as we are commanded to do in the book of Jude? We must raise the funds to cover the several thousand dollars that each of these events will cost. Please partner with us in this vital and life-changing work. You can make a tax-deductible contribution by clicking here. If you prefer to send a check please send to:

Worldview Weekend Foundation
1016 W. Poplar Ave #106-228
Collierville, TN 38017

Thank you in advance for your help and prayers.

Sincerely,
Brannon Howse 

By Brannon Howse Email: Brannon@worldviewweekend.com Click here for bio and archived articles

family integration Posted On: 10/16/09 07:29:31 AM Age 30, TX "The brutal conclusion is that, on the whole, the Sunday school programs of today are statistical failures.Part of the concern is that the mere existence of youth ministry and Sunday school allows parents to shrug off their responsibility as the primary teachers, mentors, and pastors to their family." This is why the FIC (Family Integrated Church) has taken off so well. New churches are starting all over the country. Recently we have been going to Voddie Bachum's church (although we've been attending FICs for two years) and in the last couple of months they have grown from 150 to 450! For those of you who may be interested in learning about FIC or starting one, Grace Family Baptist Church in Spring Texas will be holding a FIC conference. Of course, children are welcome as well. http://www.gracefamilybaptist.net/GFBC2/Home.html Sarah in TX Leave, run and don't look back! Posted On: 08/25/09 03:09:41 AM Age 47, FL You sound like a born again believer who can't fellowship with unregenerate people playing church? Investigate the customs of the "church" and you will NEVER go back. Any fellowsip with a man at the head has a man for it's head and not Christ. If you can find one or two people to gather with you are fortunate, most people want to sit, sing and listen to a professional lecturer. BABYLON THE GREAT Posted On: 08/23/09 11:08:27 AM Age 65, OH One could argue that if we found the perfect church, it would no longer be perfect when we got there. But who can fellowship with people who are trusting in something other than the blood of Jesus to save them. Rev 18: 4Then I heard another voice from heaven say: "COME OUT OF HER MY PEOPLE, (WHO ARE GOD'S PEOPLE IF NOT US) so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; 5for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. 6Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup. 7Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, 'I SIT AS QUEEN; I am not a widow, and I WILL NEVER MOURN.' ( DO NOT THESE CHURCHES YOU SPEAK OF SAY THIS) 8Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her. 9"When the kings of the earth who committed ADULTERY with HER ( SHE IS AN ADULTERESS AND CLAIMS TO BE MARRIED TO CHRIST) and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. 10Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: " 'Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!'.... " 'Woe! Woe, O great city, where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In one hour she has been brought to ruin! 20Rejoice over her, O heaven! REJOICE, SAINTS AND APOSTLES AND PROPHETS ! (WHO HAS KILLED THE SAINTS, APOSTLES AND PROPHETS; JESUS SAID CAN A PROPHET DIE OUTSIDE OF JERUSALEM, OR THE CITY OF GOD) God has judged her for the way she treated you.' " 21Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: "With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down,.... 24In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth." - Babylon the Great is the greatest Babylon that could ever exist and covers the face of the whole Earth. It is greater than a physical city and it is a spiritual city, it is the false church system. - Lou Newton Question Posted On: 08/22/09 09:11:18 AM Age 45, WI There is no argument I present, only the Truth that I know and none can take away; That only by God's grace and mercy and Jesus' perfect sacrifice I live, breathe, and have my being. I am thinking, and therefore take my thoughts in prayer before God, about leaving the Church I now belong to. It will be the second Church I will leave since being saved. I always look for a Bible believing, Bible preaching Church, and then the covering (white wash) comes off and the muck begins to rise to the surface. I wrestle with this because I know we are commanded to be in fellowship. I just can't commune with hypocrisy. Do I stay as a witness or get out altogether until the Lord opens the door to a true Church? Tithing will always continue as I find committed Christians Leaders who are willing to share and fight for the True Gospel, "Jesus Christ Alone." We Must Reclaim The Church Before......... Posted On: 08/21/09 01:55:19 AM Age 55, ENGLAND Arise Shine Your Light Has Come! Church in America please heed this warning. So often Jeremiah and the Biblical prophets were ignored.For God's Holy Names sake WAKE UP! I speak from experience in a country where the Christian-Judean heritage has gradually but systematically been eroded. You are beginning to see evidence that the freedom of speech that both our countries has treasured being taken away, in England we have lost this already. Please Please Please stand up and speak up or you will be swallowed up! LUTHER DID NOT LEAVE ROMAN CHURCH Posted On: 08/20/09 09:05:39 PM Age 65, OH Dear friend, you may like to know that Luther did not separate himself from the Roman church. Luther only nailed 95 things on the door of his church that the Roman church needed to change in able to line up with the Holy Scriptures. It was the man in Rome, who called himself "the supreme ruler" or pope, that threw Luther out of the Roman church. Does anyone today really think that the man who called himself pope was correct in selling indulgences to buy a dead relatives way into heaven. Grace to you. - Lou Newton Phil 2:12-13 Posted On: 08/20/09 05:07:03 PM Age 49, MO A small point... I wouldn't be concerned with reclaiming the church perse. The church is us, we are the church individually yet we are all apathetic to a degree about our own walk. We view our christianity as ok and the other people as in error. Yet, biblical Christianity as attested by the Saints is that they are blind to their selves and passionate about Christ and His people. What I'm saying is that the church will take care of itself if we are truthful with ourselves. I always tell my kids a similar principle that if they watch their pennies, their dollars will take care of themselves. John Indeed Posted On: 08/20/09 07:46:27 AM Age 49, MO Amen to both George and Lou! John Self is the (sin) problem Posted On: 08/20/09 07:39:14 AM Age 49, MO Schools are NOT the problem. Schools are a symptom of the apathy of parents who follow self instead of Christ. There are only two paths we ALL must follow- self or Christ and let's face it, we live in a material world and are VERY narcistic. John AMEN GEORGE Posted On: 08/19/09 01:54:02 PM Age 65, OH George, you have spoken very well about the problems of the church and the answer to that problem. In the early days they were NOT called Biblicans, but they were called Christians. They followed the person of the Lord Jesus and not The Book. As you so clearly state trying to follow the written code has become the PROBLEM and so can not be the answer. The answer is The Lord Jesus. We look in The Book to learn of The Lord Jesus and how to seek Him. The Holy Scriptures say that the letter of the law brings death but the Spirit of the law brings life. The purpose of the written law was to bring us to die to self and then give our life to Jesus Christ and he raises us from the dead to life. - Lou Newton