Whether it's the encroachment of woke ideologies or the lingering effects of the COVID pandemic, many Christians in Alabama are wondering if they should move to a new church that's still in line with biblical teaching.
Birmingham pastor Rich Lusk recently joined "1819 News: The Podcast" to explain why some people should make a change and what to look for in a new church.
"COVID was one of those events that really shook things up and exposed a lot of things," Lusk said. "I think really what you saw is there were a lot of churches where the leadership just really had a failure of nerve, and when they should have stood up for the right of the church to be the church, they caved."
To further complicate matters, Lusk said subversive ideologies like wokeness, CRT, DEI, feminism and the gay Christian movement started to gain popularity in some churches during the pandemic.
"So you've got a lot of things going on, and I think there are some people who feel like, 'I haven't moved, but it seems like my church has drifted off in this much more progressive direction,'" he said. "And I would say where you go to church — your church home, your church family — really, really matters. It's not something you should take lightly… I think it has huge implications generationally."
Lusk encouraged Christians whose church mishandled their COVID response or is currently being infected by woke, progressive ideas to earnestly question whether or not they should find another congregation.
"One question I think that we have to ask is how is it that we have so many Christians in our state, so many churches in our state, and yet we seem to make very little impact, why is that? What is it that we're missing?.. Another way to put it…why do people stay in crappy churches, churches that really are not that healthy, really don't teach and preach and apply the whole Word of God to the whole of life? Why do people stay in churches that have a terrible track record when it comes to raising up the next generation to continue walking with the Lord?"
Lusk gave the example of how, even though most state legislators claim to attend church, they rushed to pass a bill giving a "blank check" to in vitro fertilization clinics to operate in a way that destroys embryos.
"The IVF industry actually destroys more babies than abortion does annually, and we just gave them a blank check to basically keep doing it as much as they need to," he said. "...How is it that we have a state where we have so many of our legislators and those in the executive branch of government and so forth that are obviously in church and consider themselves Christians and do not know better and would pass this legislation that undoes what I thought was a Supreme Court ruling that took a big step in the right direction?.. It makes me wonder, do the churches in our state, do the pastors of our state preach and teach the Word of God as it comes to bear on the issues of the day?"
Lusk said Christians should "humbly and prayerfully" consider their decision before leaving or joining a church. He said he uses the three basic criteria outlined by historical church reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin on how to identify a godly, healthy church:
The faithful preaching of the Word
The proper administration of the sacraments
The wise exercise of church discipline
Other marks of a solid church include biblically masculine leadership, support for Christian education, and regular singing of biblical Psalms. However, he said that he would avoid even a hint of woke ideology in a church as a general rule.
"Any sign of wokeness in your church, run away as fast as you can. Flee wokeness because wokeness is an acid that will eventually eat through everything," he said. "… It's contrary to God's law in every way."
To connect with the story's author or comment, email daniel.taylor@1819news.com or find him on Twitter and Facebook.
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