Two articles in World caught my attention. The first was about Christians in Africa. The Transforming Nations Alliance (TNA), a Christian project in Uganda, states: “while many Sub-Saharan African countries boast of large Christian populations, their impact or influence is hardly seen or noticed in the real world. The Church in these nations has largely lost credibility and is accused of being totally irrelevant in society.” [1]
Is the rest of the Christian world any different? Where does Christianity have a major impact of a society; where does Christianity have credibility?
Another article was about one family’s struggle with a child who has schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Their pastor comments about the impact Christianity has had on the family: “It’s amazing to see someone not just talking about it, but living it out. You can read a book or an article about it, but it’s not the same as when you see a life actually living it.” [2]
Why is it amazing to see someone living out Christianity? Should it not be the norm for Christians to live as Christ lived?
The reason for both the issues we have raised above is because we have made Christianity solely a belief system. All we need to do is say a few words to gain admission into heaven and then we continue to live our lives the way we always have lived them. But that is not what Christianity is about. It is fundamentally about a change of our soul so it becomes like God. Until the Church realized that, it will continue to be irrelevant for most people in this world.
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[1] Marvin Olasky, “Africa’s Hinge”, World, February 8, 2014, p. 39.
[2] Sophia Lee, “Saving Seth”, World, February 8, 2014, p.49.
