Trinity Baptist Church Online

Contending As One Man 

Harvard professor Robert Putnam, in his book Bowling Alone shows, that by every measure, participation in civic life is at a record low.   In other words, Americans don’t just want their privacy; we have lost our sense of need of others.  We are “radical individualists.”  

Now, it may not concern you that more Americans are choosing to bowl alone but the privatization of the American lifestyle should concern every Christian for two reasons.  First of all, many churches are dying because of it.  Secondly, some experts believe that this momentum toward radical individualism is in part encouraged by the church culture. Specifically, that the way local churches do not relate to one another condones the individualistic mentality.  Our behavior teaches the rest of the community that it is okay by God to be self-absorbed and inwardly focused.  Sadly, the church, instead of raising the bar of unselfishness we instead are helping to lower it.  As influencers of our culture’s character, we have lost our saltiness. 

How different from the Bible’s expectation regarding the witness of the church. Paul writes in Philippians, “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ…. I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel” (1:27).