Churches have the solutions to the problems Christians complain about.  The Church is the only institution with the capacity, empathy, and mandate to address America’s greatest social ills.  However, most churches sit on the sidelines when they should be in the game.  Engagement in the controversial is risky and in the personal is messy.  It’s easier to play Monday morning quarterback than to tackle challenges head-on.

Contemporary church growth models have conditioned consumers to speak out but the Lord expects Christ-followers to make disciples who take action.  Pastors have been taught and incented to attract and retain, not equip and deploy.  If more leaders viewed churchgoers as Kingdom employees charged with pursuing the real “customer”, they’d prepare those “employees” to confront America’s most significant barriers to God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven.

1. Abortion

Underlying Issues: The main concern for women considering abortion is their inability to provide for a child, fearing no one will be there for them if they decide to give birth.

Biblical Mandate: The Lord created the Church to be a family and strengthen families.  No other organization is better positioned or commissioned to assist with all aspects of a parent’s and child’s life – spiritual, material, psychological, moral, and social.  Churches are ideally suited to help young moms (and dads) navigate the road ahead.

Proposed Solution: Speaking out against abortion falls on deaf ears when we fail to address its root cause.  Standing behind our commitment to the sanctity of human life should involve reassuring women considering abortion that they’ll have a support network if they decide to start (or grow) a family.  For example, through The Open Table‘s proven methodology, the Christian community could form “Tables” of 4-5 volunteers who commit to meeting monthly with each family, leveraging their social capital to provide help and hope through the ups and downs of raising a newborn.

2. Poverty

Underlying Issues: Christians often argue for reducing spending on government programs, stressing that the private sector should lead poverty alleviation.  However, churches abdicated that frontline role a century ago, largely outsourcing compassion to secular agencies and ministries.  We emphasize the dignity of work but aren’t adequately fostering self-sustainability and economic mobility for those who lose government benefits.

Biblical Mandate: Jesus’ mission and model – even His identity – prioritized the materially poor.  He saw them as deserving of His attention, protection, and preservation.  They’re all made in God’s image, imbued with tremendous worth.

Proposed Solution: The Christian community rightly argues for work requirements, recognizing the capabilities of those experiencing poverty.  However, we should more proactively assist with job placement and career planning.  Local churches in Tampa Bay are helping young adults aging out of foster care find not just jobs, but careers – and walk alongside them to overcome obstacles outside of work that impede productivity.

3. Progressivism

Underlying Issues: Most churches and Christians combat progressivism in ways that inadvertently promote it by misunderstanding its root cause.

Biblical Mandate: “Progressive” is a worldview rooted in the mistaken belief that human nature is inherently good.  The only explanation for holding a non-biblical position on every issue is adoption of that fundamentally flawed premise.  If human nature isn’t evil then we don’t need police, borders, abortion restrictions, genders – or Jesus.  In that case, sin is irrelevant and virtue is doing whatever is best for oneself.

Proposed Solution: Rather than dividing over politics, parties, and policies, addressing the source of “progressivism” requires shining Jesus’ light on the depravity of human nature.  Protesting, lobbying, and voting against the “opposition” adds fuel to the fire, but campaigns like Drop The Stone bridge divides by performing acts of kindness rooted in unconditional love for those across the political and religious aisle.

4. Hopelessness

Underlying Issues: Only 52% of born-again believers have witnessed to someone at least once in the past year and 95% have never led someone to Christ.  American churchgoers aren’t confident in their ability to speak openly about what they believe, worried about the rebuttals that may come their way.  Churches aren’t providing the apologetics training their members need, instead asking them to invite their friends to next Sunday’s service to hear the Gospel from a “professional”.

Biblical Mandate: Countless verses and the Great Commission emphasize the importance of equipping every believer to speak openly about Jesus.  Responsibility for evangelism lies with each of us, not just pastors, even in the face of mounting resistance.

Proposed Solution: We’re free in America to talk about our faith in Christ, but few feel well prepared to do so.  Because so few churches teach members how to evangelize, Meet The Need is building a Personal Apologist app with Apologetics, Inc. to equip Christ-followers to respond to the typical questions non-believers ask.  The platform takes users through immersive learning “journeys” around various apologetics topics.

5. Liberty

Underlying Issues: Over 360 million Christians worldwide today suffer high levels of persecution.  Yet the American Church’s silence on persecution is deafening.  How must our brothers and sisters feel, given the vast resources we possess, when we direct less than 1% of our giving to help them?  Ironically, ignoring persecution abroad may accelerate its expansion here in the U.S.

Biblical Mandate: Most collections taken up for the poor in the New Testament were for the persecuted.  Their poverty stemmed from a common form of oppression – the inability to work to earn income or denial of assistance.  The Christian community is called to unite with those abused for what we do here in America with impunity.

Proposed Solution: Advocating and contributing far more for the persecuted overseas would awaken fellow believers to the dangers awaiting us one day.  Convincing legislators to invoke economic, political, or diplomatic measures against persecuting nations sets a precedent that may carry over to slow its inevitable arrival onto our shores.

6. Family

Underlying Issues: Fatherlessness is a national epidemic.  America has the highest proportion of single-parent households in the world – three times the global average.  Evolving social norms attack the “traditional” (i.e. biblical) family unit and diminish the role of dads.  Breaking down America’s family structure is a prerequisite for the progressive endgame – removing Judeo-Christian values from our culture.

Biblical Mandate: Rejecting the religion of our nation’s forefathers positions self and government as the ultimate arbiters of identity, truth, and morality.  Principles and practices antithetical to Scripture – abortion, gender fluidity, (toxic) masculinity, gay marriage, and schools acting without parental consent – strategically combine to dismantle society’s intended, biblical underpinning (i.e. the family).

Proposed Solution: AI is being used by media and activists to promote anti-family principles, but Link2Hope leverages AI to build support networks around the fatherless and teach men to be role models for their children.  Churches should engage the culture war where it will be won – in the trenches, not at the ballot box.

7. Addiction

Underlying Issues: Roughly 10% of Americans over the age of 12 are addicted to alcohol and only 8% seek treatment.  Meanwhile, 22% of Americans over 12 years old use illicit drugs and 94% of addicts receive no treatment.

Biblical Mandate: Churches are in a unique position to provide what no secular organization can – an answer to the hopelessness and loneliness behind the escapism that fuels substance abuse.  Only the church can address all four (spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional) interrelated receptors that cause and cure addiction.

Proposed Solution: Church members should be trained to reduce stigma, recognize signs, mitigate risk factors, and serve families whose mental and physical health are impacted by alcohol or drug use disorder.  A supportive church family could assist addicts through all phases of prevention, intervention, and recovery.

It’s Your Turn…

Is your church actively working to resolve these issues or concerned about how members would respond if asked to step too far out of their comfort zones?