I was recently asked what I thought were the critical issues facing the church today. After some thought, I came up with five issues which I think are the greatest problems which need to addressed. Tell me what you think. Did I miss one?

Immorality inside and outside the church – with the recent legalization of gay marriage and the effects of the sexual revolution, the church is faced with new challenges. The church will need to be ready to confront not only those outside the church with biblical truth, but also those inside the church. It is inevitable that the moral decay around us will begin manifesting itself inside our ranks. As a result, the church will need to begin taking church discipline seriously.

Decreasing finances – the church will soon have to learn to do more ministry with less dollars. Giving on the whole is on the decline and studies show that millennials do not tithe as well as their parents and grandparents. As a result, the church needs to be ahead of the curve and needs to cut waste and become a lean organization.

Overcoming cultural hostility – The American church has enjoyed a favored position in the culture for generations. We are seeing that dissolve largely in the past decade. The church is becoming a stranger in a strange land. Those outside of us hear only the negative press and learn to repeat the talking points of the secular left. This results in a negative, sometimes hostile, view of the church. We will have to combat this by building real relationships and restoring our reputation first in our communities. We can never expect the world to love followers of Christ, Jesus promised this would not be the case, however, we can live lives in such a way that we dispel the myths that are commonly believed about Christians and we can have a favorable reputation among our own community.

The need to increase church security – I recently heard Thom Rainer say that church security will be one of the fastest growing Christian industries in the coming years. I have heard multiple reports of attacks and robberies happening on church property in recent years. This may be due in part to the growing hostility in our culture. The church needs to be prepared against burglaries and even the unspeakable notion of terror attacks.

Biblical illiteracy – For the most part, the average parishioner in the pew is largely ignorant of the Bible. Not only has this been my personal experience, but there are multitudinous surveys to corroborate this observation. The church has failed to disciple this generation and we need to ensure that if our people profess to believe the body of truth called Christianity that they are able to actually articulate that which they say they believe.