Many people have noted the decline of Christianity in Western countries over the last few hundred years, which has become even more obvious in the last fifty to seventy years. The reasons for this decline are attributed to many different things.

Some say it's just 'post-Christendom,' where Western societies as a whole are becoming resistant and indifferent to Christianity after being influenced by it for so long. Others say Christians are just not having as many children as they used to, in contrast to growing religions like Mormonism and Islam. Some say it's simply a demographic and cultural shift in Western cultures which means that churches should downsize and merge with one another.1

All these arguments seem to say that there's nothing that can be done to slow down or reverse the decline of Christianity in Western countries. It seems to lead to an attitude that Christians should just get used to this new reality.

But I think another major reason behind this decline is that, on the whole, Christians are failing to share our faith with others. The theological term for this activity is evangelism. I worry that many Christians no longer know how to explain the gospel in an understandable way, so that non-Christians can believe it and want to believe it. This may be because many Christians today feel unequipped in their own understanding of the gospel.

Therefore, in this post I will argue that Christians (and church leaders especially) should make evangelism their number-one priority, as well as training up of current Christians in theology and apologetics.

Evangelism is a Necessary Activity of the Church

Consider the early church. They started from nothing, with no knowledge of Christianity that pre-existed in their Greco-Roman culture. And they rapidly spread the message of the gospel and started house churches in city after city after city. Paul and other Apostles would go and preach the gospel even in the marketplaces or other public areas. Some people would reject them, but others would be convinced and would join them.

New communities of Christians sprang up quickly when people heard the gospel and joined together to encourage each other, to study the Bible, to pray together, to build up their faith, to train and educate new converts or children, and to share the gospel with others around them. Similar things happened when missionaries brought the gospel to new cultures who had never heard it before.

The success of these new Christian communities depended on having enough numerical growth to sustain their existence. They were training up their children in the faith, appointing new leaders to take over when older ones passed on, and reaching out to the people around them to bring in new converts.

Evangelism is ultimately the activity that sustains churches. If evangelism is neglected, then a church will eventually die out. It's a simple fact.

After all, even though we usually don't like to think about it, each of us will eventually die (unless Jesus returns before then at the Rapture). The only reason the churches we attend currently are still in existence is because previous generations of Christians evangelized.

They took their children to church. They invited friends to church. They held revival meetings. They passed out tracts. They preached on the street-corners. They held Bible studies in their homes. They formed student organizations to preach and teach on campuses. And on and on.

And yes, they did good works too. They founded orphanages, shelters, soup kitchens, and hospitals. They advocated for abolishing slavery and opposed other injustices. They tried to change their societies to be ones that supported Christian values. These are all excellent things, and God is certainly pleased when we help others.

However, if all those good works are not inspiring people to become Christians and join churches, then unfortunately, the truth is that these churches will shrink and eventually die regardless of how much excellent work they are doing in their communities.

Even if a church closes its doors, sells its building, and becomes a small group or house church, eventually that too will die off if it fails to evangelize and bring in or raise up new Christians.

People move away due to school, work, marriage, etc. Elderly people will pass on. And if no one new is coming in to replace these people who leave, then slowly the group will dwindle until it is forced to cease altogether or merges with another group. If that new group also does not bring in new people, then it too will sooner or later decline and die out. And on and on.

You Can't Help Someone If You're Dead

Some might say that the church also needs to do good works. They argue that the church can do a lot of good, such as by filling gaps in government social programs or saving people from dying on the streets or living in poverty or being hungry. But if the church doesn't exist, then it cannot do any of that!

The current state of Christianity in our culture today reminds me of the emergency instructions they give you when you travel on an airplane: "put on your own oxygen mask before helping others". Unless churches are growing, soon they will not exist, and will not be able to do these excellent good works. And the only way churches grow is through evangelism.

So those who are the most enthusiastic for all the social programs that churches are involved in should also be the ones most encouraging evangelism! Because without evangelism, churches cannot sustain these programs for the long-term.

Therefore, if faced with a declining church, the answer is not to continue to do things the same way as they have been. Because doing things the same way is going to lead to the same results.

If resources of money or volunteers are dwindling, it is unreasonable to ask fewer and fewer people to do more and more, to sustain things and keep the church going the way it was in the 'good old days'. If a church does that, then soon, the work will be too burdensome for anyone to want to take it on. After all, people's lives are busy and complicated, and it does the church no good if a person who was willing to step up and volunteer burns out.

And the evangelism needs to happen before a church becomes so small that any newcomers are seen only as new "human resources" to put to work right away to keep the church's programs going. Desperation and clinginess will scare people away from joining churches just as these same things drive people away from romantic relationships.

Proposed Solution: Focus on Evangelism and Training Up Current Christians

So I think the solution is for churches to put more of their limited resources and energy into outreach to non-Christians. Or perhaps, outreach to those who are nominally Christian but who feel no need to get involved in a local church. Or to Christians who are satisfied watching Youtube sermons but are not part of local church communities.

Accordingly, another critical area of focus should be on discipleship programs which can instruct and mentor people in their Christian faith. This is critical to train Christians to know what they believe and to enable them to share their beliefs clearly with their friends, family, coworkers, and others.

After all, Paul says we should always be ready prepared to "make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you" (1 Peter 3:15).

But my experience is that many Christians in church are not ready to do this. They might be happy to talk about what God has done in their lives in Bible studies or among Christian friends. But if asked a tough question by a non-Christian, they might freeze.

They might say that having answers doesn't matter because it's all about faith. They might tell someone to just read the Bible and pray, and it will becomes obvious that Christianity is true.

They might, if they're especially daring, invite that person to church, or forward them a Youtube video where they can hear explanations from an expert. They might buy someone a Bible, or a good book by a well-loved Christian author. This is alright, and certainly better than nothing, but not ideal.

The issue is that in all these approaches Christians are essentially passing off their responsibility to give an answer to someone else, whether to the person who is interested in Christianity themselves, or to another Christian expert.

While there might be times to refer to experts, I think what we really need in order to keep Christianity going in places where it is declining is to train every individual Christian to:

• be more familiar with the basics of Christianity (a.k.a the gospel).
• explain the gospel in ways that are clear and understandable to people in our culture which is rapidly losing familiarity with the Bible and Christian terminology.
• explain the gospel in such a way that non-Christians realize they need Jesus as their savior.
• know some answers to the most common "tough questions" that unbelievers might throw at us.
• demonstrate in our lives the difference that our faith makes to how we act and how we think about the world.

We need preaching and teaching which enables the average pew-sitting Christian to do these things. We also need more people to be involved in Bible studies, or even for churches to offer full-blown catechetical courses, like they still do in some Christian traditions.

We need to preach the gospel clearly in every single sermon, or at least, it needs to be said clearly at least sometime during every church service. We can't just assume that everyone in church knows what it is. What if someone attends your church for the first time, and they go home having heard nothing about the hope of eternal life and the love of God for sinners shown to us in Christ's life and death for us? How sad would that be! And what a lost opportunity.

In summary, let's put the focus back on Jesus' command to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20).

If you've made it this far into my argument and agree with me, then I'm glad, and I hope you take up my challenge to prioritize evangelism and discipleship, whether personally or in your churches.

In the rest of this post I'm going to argue why I think that the gospel needs to be churches' priority rather than good works, if we're facing a situation of declining numbers, or if we have to choose where to spend our limited resources.

But what about the people who need our help?

The above question is what I imagine some especially compassionate and caring Christians might say in response to my above argument. Maybe they will dismiss me as a cold-hearted rational theologian. However, I believe that prioritizing evangelism and discipleship is actually the best long-term answer to enabling our churches to help more people.

If a church is facing dwindling numbers or limited resources, then I know it might be hard for some to stomach, but it might be necessary to cut back on other social programs the church is running, if there are not enough people or resources to continue to run them. Or at least, put the social programs on hold until the church is growing and sustainable again.

In the worst case scenario, maybe churches should downsize and find a new way of existing that is sustainable, even if it means they can no longer offer the social programs they used to, or if they have to sell their building.

After all, those people who are relying on the social services that a church provides will go elsewhere or will find other ways of surviving if the church goes under. But churches cannot sacrifice their own existence by focusing so much on these good things and serving others that they neglect evangelism. For doing so is to neglect their own future existence. Then no one gets helped.

Plus, there are many organizations out there that do offer various social programs and are not associated with churches. Why are churches duplicating these things which other organizations probably do them better, more efficiently, and more effectively, while churches neglect Jesus' commands to go and preach and make disciples?

Spreading the gospel is the only thing the church does that all the other organizations out there do not do. Personally, I would rather put my limited time, effort, and money into that task, rather than supporting other charities or organizations that don't directly share the gospel.

Some might say that the church being involved in offering social programs might inspire the people that benefit from them to attend church by demonstrating God's love to them. Or maybe the programs can attract non-Christians who are interested in serving others by working for common goals.

But in my experience, while this may be true for a small minority of people, on the whole, it seems that this approach does not lead to the boost in church attendance or commitment or conversions that churches need to become sustainable again. The number of new, consistent, and committed church attendees I've seen as a result of my small church's totally amazing service to many different communities over the years has led to no significant increase in our church size.

Yes, all this serving might be having an impact on some people's souls, such as introducing children to Jesus in summer camps, or chatting with homeless and poor individuals about God during the nights when they eat and sleep in the church's basement.

But ultimately, if our church is not growing, demographics will overtake it very quickly, and all these wonderful things my church does will cease anyway.

It reminds me of people who are so giving of themselves that they neglect their own health, sanity, and financial stability.

They give and give and give until they are unhealthy, burnt out, and penniless. Then those who have depended on their enabling and provision will either go elsewhere to get what they need, or, they will simply end up in the same situation that they would have ended up in anyway.

Plus, the individuals who were being cared for have, in all likelihood, still not learned the skills or made the changes that they would need to in order to get themselves out of the cycle of neediness and dependency that caused them to need help in the first place.

Jesus did say that we would always have the poor with us (Matthew 26:11). The church is never going to be able to solve that problem (nor, will the government, for that matter).

Some might say "Well, we just need to pray, and trust that God will sustain us to continue doing His work."

But again, let's remember what is the most important work the church does. That's where the church's priorities must be, in order to be faithful to Jesus.

Jesus' instructions to the church is not "go out and solve world hunger." It is not "go out and solve homelessness." It is not "go out and heal the sick." It is not "go out and adopt all the unwanted children out there to end abortion." It is not "go and advocate for all the minorities and oppressed peoples of the world." It is not "go out and reconcile all divisions between all people groups". Or whatever other socially good task we can imagine.

Of course these are all good things which individual Christians can be involved in according to our gifts and callings. And God is pleased when Christians do good, and promises us heavenly rewards for our personal involvement in these things (1 Corinthians 3:11-15). But these things are not our primary duty as Christians. We are commanded to go preach, teach, make disciples.

We might have these specific spiritual gifts. But if we don't, then building up the church, a.k.a the body of Christ, is the goal of all the spiritual gifts which the Holy Spirit gives to each Christian:

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-12, NRSV)

Spiritual gifts and Christian leadership roles are not given by God for the purpose of going out to fix the world. To think that Christians will save the world through our good works is as heretical as the idea that our good works can get us into heaven. Only Jesus saves the world. Our job is to tell the world about Jesus.

The Gospel Is Needed To Sustain Western Ethics

However, for anyone who is unconvinced by my argument so far and who still thinks the church needs to save the world through good works, I will argue here that society as a whole benefits directly from Christians sharing the gospel.

Historically, it is because of the widespread influence of Judeo-Christian values and beliefs over the last two-thousand years that Western culture has come to believe in caring for the poor and disadvantaged members of our society.

And it is the gospel which teaches us to overcome biases against people based on superficial characteristics. For example, the belief that God loves everyone equally means we should also love each person equally (Romans 13:8, John 13:34, 15:12).

In other societies people are often valued only based on their class, their race, their gender, their beauty, their wealth, or some other standard. In other societies things like murder, theft, torture, enslavement, or abuse are excused or overlooked if done against certain types of people. These are things that Christianity teaches are sinful.

So if Christianity dies out in Western countries due to a lack of evangelism, then in the long term, if Jesus doesn't return quickly enough, our society will lose these values. These values may persist for a few generations in the 'afterglow' of the gospel, when people still believe that being an ethical person is important.

However, sooner or later people with no religious background will begin asking themselves why they bother being good and loving people if, in the end, everything and everyone they love and care about will die.

For example, in a debate involving Christian philosopher William Lane Craig and psychologist Jordan Peterson, Peterson argued that the purpose of life is doing good, alleviating suffering, and fighting evil. Craig argued that if there is no God who gives people eternal life which makes our moral choices eternally significant, then doing good, alleviating suffering, and fighting evil makes no ultimate difference.2

For example, some might say that it is our families that gives our lives meaning. We want the world to be a good place for our children, and their children, and on and on. But from an atheistic perspective, why would it matter if our families continue, or if people in the future have good lives, if everything will ultimately be destroyed either in a nuclear war, a deadly pandemic, an asteroid impact, runaway climate change, a solar flare hitting Earth, the sun going supernova, or the final heat death of the universe?

The end result would be the same as if humanity had never existed. Whether we as individuals had happy lives or miserable lives would not matter or change anything.

And thus, if there is no eternal afterlife and no eternal impact we may make on someone's life, then why not just live for ourselves and our own pleasure?

The song "Imagine" by John Lennon would seem to say that's a good thing. One line goes "Imagine all the people living for today." But just imagine how terrifying that would be: rates of murder, rape, and theft would skyrocket!

Some might say that such a situation would not happen because people are inherently good, and people feel good when we do good for others, and so altruism would win out and prevent societal decline. People would still love their children, care for elderly parents, feed the poor, and so forth, because of the inherent goodness of their hearts, or their consciences, or their 'selfish' genes that program them to do such things to ensure humanity's continued existence.

As a Christian, I would say that yes, due to God's common grace, God preserves some sense of selflessness and good in humanity at large so that humanity does not self destruct in an apocalypse of individualistic selfishness before the end-times comes (e.g. 2 Thessalonians 2:7). Scripture also hints that our consciences can act as a sort of "law" unto themselves if necessary (Romans 2:14-16).

Thus, many human cultures have managed to not self-destruct without Judeo-Christian values because of people's God-given and common-grace-preserved consciences. But many societies have also fallen into human sacrifice, mass murder, slavery, and other extreme evils despite having consciences. Conscience is not infallible.

The Christian philosopher Kierkegaard, in his book Purity of Heart Is To Will One Thing, argued that each person should live in a way that we would be at peace if we were eternally trapped with our own consciences in the afterlife. He believes we do this by living for only "one thing", which is what he calls "the good" (i.e. God). Ancient Greek philosophers came to similar conclusions.3

But it is Christianity and not philosophy which made the incredible impact upon Western culture that has shaped our society as a whole such that individuals in Western cultures generally value doing good towards others.

I've even heard a contemporary philosopher say that if you can't teach your children philosophy, then take them to church, because there they will learn the same morals and ethics that the best philosophy can teach.

More importantly, though, you should take your children to church because they might just gain eternal life, if they believe in Jesus as their savior from the eternal death that their sins deserve.

Because philosophy has no solution to what each of us feels deep inside about our failure, our guilt, our inadequacy, and our mistakes and errors when we have failed to live up to what we know we should have done.

Yes, we can learn from our past, and try to live better. But because humanity has fallen into sin, it is impossible to rid ourselves of our selfishness, our greed, our pride, or our hatred by our own efforts. Philosophy, atheistic ethics, and our consciences cannot save us from sin. They can't give us ultimate meaning and purpose despite the suffering we all experience.

It is only Christianity which can relieve our guilty consciences. It is only in Jesus that we can have the promise of eternal life, which gives meaning to all of our lives and to the lives of everyone else in the world whom Christians desire to help.

This offer of free eternal life through faith in Christ is what Jesus has called Christians to share with the world. This must be our priority.

Those who want to focus on ethics and good works instead of the gospel should realize that by sharing the gospel, we are also sharing the values and ethics which can help improve the world. However, we can't just skip over the gospel and go straight to ethics, because without the gospel there is no foundation for Christian ethics.

Conclusion

If you want your church to continue to exist, the only solution is to evangelize. And that means training up average Christians through teaching doctrine and studying the Bible so that they can effectively share their beliefs and give compelling answers to questions they will face in the process.

Sharing the gospel is the essential mission and calling of the church, and of all Christians. It cannot be neglected for the sake of doing good works. Yet indirectly, sharing the gospel provides the only enduring foundation for the ethics which will improve the world. So those who want to do the most good in the world should also focus on evangelism.

Because a church which fails to reach out to others with the gospel and fails to train Christians to share the gospel will eventually die out. Regardless of how much good we do for others, or how much we love our services and worship and community, if our church does not spread the message of eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, then I would argue that it is not truly a church and Christians should not weep if it ceases to exist.

Fortunately, God has given us reassurance that the Church as a whole will not die out in this world, because not even the gates of hell will be able to overcome it (Matthew 16:17-19). However, we still have a job to do, and the future of our local churches and of Christianity in our city or country depends on Christians stepping out in faith to engage in evangelism and discipleship.

Footnotes:

• 1. Erik Parker, "Closing 9000 Churches In Canada – Why Decline Might Still Be A Good Thing In 2019", The Millennial Pastor, May 29, 2019.
• 2. "Is There Meaning to Life? | William Lane Craig, Rebecca Goldstein, Jordan Peterson - Toronto 2018" on *YouTube*, ReasonableFaithOrg, January 26, 2018.
• 3. "Form of the Good", Wikipedia.org