21st Century Challenges to Christian Growth - Essay Sample

Introduction

Unlike the past centuries, when believers used to strengthen their faith in God, the ecclesial of the 21st century face several hindrances that have contributed to the weakening of their spiritual growth. In his 2014 Biblical teaching, Ortberg (2014) outlines many of the issues which negatively affect people's Christian growth and criticizes them with the help of biblical verses. The challenges are many, but Ortberg highlights a few of them, which may be considered to have more weight that n others and which appear to apply to almost everybody in their lives today (Halikiopoulou, 2017). The motive of this paper, therefore, is to outline, according to Pastor John Ortberg, the challenges that Christians face today, which hinder their spiritual growth.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Biblical illiteracy is the first hindrance cited by Ortberg towards spiritual growth. People always fear to give their views regarding issues on which there are either completely oblivious or have limited knowledge. Most people in the 21st century have Bibles either as applications in their communication gadgets or physically but rarely engage themselves reading them (Sigler, 2015). According to Christian teachings, those who rarely read the Bible have stunted spiritual growth patterns. A bunch of people also tend to believe a few things to be found in the Bible, when in the real sense, they are not. The illiteracy of the biblical teachings, thus making it close to impossible for people to grow spiritually (Avent & Cashwell, 2015). Pastors who lack proper information from the Bible may also find themselves misleading the whole lot through their teachings.

The presence of God in people is fading away. The needs and the daily activities of people are responsible for their detachment with God and His teachings (Suh & Russell, 2015). People are busy running their businesses and other responsibilities, which may bring food to them, thus failing to show the image of God on them as the quality of church leaders (Akerlund, 2016). Ortberg gives an example of the parable of the great banquet told by Jesus. He says that many were called to the banquet where everything had been catered for. He quotes Luke 14; 18-20, meaning that others made excuses on why they had to miss out on occasion. The same thing happens in the world today because people love their issues compared to their relationship with God.

Boredom and delay in God's promises. As it's always understood, the blessings coming from God do not come within the shortest periods that people expect them, but instead, take either short or long periods depending on the will of God (Chiroma, 2017). The 21st-century believers lack the patience to wait for the blessings and opt to look for them with their strengths. The behavior does not conform to the commitment as a quality of church leaders (McKibben, Umstead & Borders, 2017). They will watch the most popular movies as they wait for new releases. The Bible looks so stagnant and contains the same information that makes people bored because they think they know it all. People, thus, put less effort into changing their lives by the use of 'boring facts.'

The power of the Angel is that which unifies diverse people. However, the Christian believers today practice homogeneity of churches as they go to churches fitting them (Feller & Lombaard, 2018). The issue has created enmity amongst the believers, especially when they tend to criticize the practices of other denominations. If the faith of the Christians today must grow strongly, then the people themselves must rethink (Schutte, P. J. 2016). A better understanding of the Bible must be initiated so that people can choose to love God, and His teachings and sacrifice at least a day for Him.

References

Akerlund, T. (2016). "To Live Lives Worthy of God": Leadership and Spiritual Formation in I Thessalonians 2: 1-12. Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, 9(1), 18-34 https://doi.org/10.1177/193979091600900103.

Avent, J. R., & Cashwell, C. S. (2015). The black church: Theology and implications for counseling African Americans. The Professional Counselor, 5(1), 81-90. http://dx.doi.org/10.15241/jra.5.1.81

Beard, C. (2015). Missional discipleship: Discerning spiritual-formation practices and goals within the missional movement. Missiology, 43(2), 175-194. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091829614563059

Chiroma, N. H. (2017). Theological education and the challenges of postmodernism. International Journal of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, 2(11), 1-7.

Feller, J., & Lombaard, C. (2018). Spiritual formation towards Pentecostal leadership as discipleship. Koers, 83(1), 1-12.

Halikiopoulou, D. (2017). Patterns of secularization: Church, state and nation in Greece and the Republic of Ireland. Routledge.

McKibben, W. B., Umstead, L. K., & Borders, L. D. (2017). Identifying dynamics of counseling leadership: A content analysis study. Journal of Counseling & Development, 95(2), 192-202.https://doi.org/10.1002/jcad.12131

Ortberg, J. (2014, May 16). 2014 Pepperdine Bible Lectures | John Ortberg [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xNJc_84Y1E&t=2133s

Schutte, P. J. (2016). Workplace spirituality: A tool or a trend?. HTS Theological Studies, 72(4), 1-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts.v72i4.3294

Sigler, J. E. (2015). Individual, Order, and Denominational Differences in the Phenomenological Experience of Direct Divine Communication (DDC). Journal of Communication & Religion, 38(4).

Suh, D., & Russell, R. (2015). Non-affiliation, non-denominationalism, religious switching, and denominational switching: Longitudinal analysis of the effects on religiosity. Review of Religious Research, 57(1), 2541.

Zakolodnaya, E. (2015). The dilemma of spiritual and moral personal development of modern student-athletes. Rozprawy spoleczne, 9(2), 14-18.