‘It is the failure of Christ’s church that has caused our beloved country to stumble,’ Ginn explains
September 19, 2022
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A disturbing report from Pew Research Center indicates that America could no longer be a majority Christian nation by as early as 2045. Not only would Christians no longer be the majority, but Christianity could be outnumbered by the religiously unaffiliated, or the “nones.” The report highlighted four possible scenarios of how the U.S. religious landscape might change over the next half century, all with varying degrees of religious disaffiliation.
In light of these concerning downward trends in American Christianity, Judge Phil Ginn, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary (SES, www.ses.edu), responded to the “de-Christianizing” of America, noting that the rise of the “nones” should force the Church to redouble the efforts to share the Gospel of Christ to the world — whether it wants to hear it or not.
Ginn commented, “A recent study by Pew Research Center claims that Christians could lose their majority status in America by the year 2045. Even a cursory look at the study’s data reveals that the mathematics of the demographic shifts are clearly not in favor of those who would label themselves as Christians. In a nutshell, the study shows that the majority in the older generations still identify as Christian, but the allegiance to faith of any kind is waning as each progressive generation makes its appearance on the horizon. Hence, if this movement remains unabated, the religiously unaffiliated will soon be making most of the cultural decisions in this nation, including those involving political clout.
“Those of us who have been paying attention are in no way surprised by this type of pronouncement. True Christianity, as a subset of the more broadly expressed term Christianity, has been in the minority for years, if not decades. Almost 20 years ago now, George Barna released information in his book ‘Think Like Jesus’ indicating that less than 15% of evangelical Christians sitting in a church pew on any given Sunday actually had some idea of what they believed and why they believed it. Like a contaminant slowly seeping into the drinking water, we have allowed culture to so infiltrate our faith that the church largely is no longer potable in America.”
Ginn continued, “2 Chronicles 7:14 states, ‘If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.’ This admonition was never intended for a general audience even made up of good American church people. Only those of us who are truly Christ’s followers are singled out with this clarion call to repentance and action. So let us not be too quick to blame the younger generations for their shortcomings, when it is the failure of Christ’s church that has caused our beloved country to stumble.
“Those of us at Southern Evangelical Seminary know that the call of God on our lives has never been to seek political power, but rather to change lives through the proclamation of the Gospel message. At the same time, we know that God seemingly always does his best work through a remnant of his true followers. So, as we find ourselves on the threshold of a new paradigm obviously cognizant of the contrarian statistical analyses to our faith, we are nevertheless ready to join with other like-minded brothers and sisters to remain steadfast in the truth and impact our culture for Christ.”
Judge Phil Ginn was appointed president of SES in April 2021 after a distinguished career as both a lawyer and a judge. Over the course of his 22-year judicial career, he was privileged to hold court in almost 50% of the county seats in North Carolina. He holds a B.A. from Appalachian State University, a J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Doctor of Ministry from Southern Evangelical Seminary. Prior to his appointment as SES president, Judge Ginn served as SES Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
SES will take part in the upcoming Digging Deeper Conference on October 7-8 in Burke, Viriginia. The Digging Deeper Conference is a two-day event engaging today’s questions from a Christian perspective. World class speakers will help us dive into discussions around science, theology, philosophy, apologetics, and more to get at the age-old question, “What is true?” Thinkers, skeptics, men and women of faith, scientists, professionals, students, agnostics, atheists, and anyone else who is honestly seeking truth are welcome to attend.
The mission of SES is to train men and women, based on the inerrant and infallible written Word of God, for the evangelization of the world and the defense of the historic Christian faith. SES offers a range of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees (along with several for-credit certificates) that uniquely integrate theology, philosophy, and apologetics to build a complete and systematic Christian worldview.
For more information on SES, visit its website at www.ses.edu or its Facebook page, follow the SES Twitter feed, @sesapologetics, or call (704) 847-5600.
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