Four Dates and Four Fortress Factors

We are going to look at four dates this next week that are critical to understanding the death of ministry passion among the laity in American churches. These dates span a generation, 1925 to 1964. Each date ushers in a powerful new influence that has had a tremendous impact on our churches. And each date drives another nail in the coffin of ministry passion among rank and file Christians.

By the mid 1960s suburban churches, according to Gibson Winter, author of The Suburban Captivity of the Church, the suburban church had largely been reduced to “religious parks and recreation for the middle class.” It is not a coincidence that following the full impact of these four dates America’s transition from a Christian to a Post-Christian nation was rapid. In our opinion the Free, (filthy), Speech Movement, 1965-75 completed the transition.

Ultimately, the lack of ministry passion is the result of multiple and complex influences. I certainly haven’t identified all of them, but I will identified four influences that are pretty important.