The American church is in a bad situation- memberships dropping, criticisms gone unanswered and unaddressed, issues within individual churches that make the overall faith look bad, and things like that are ordinary. However, there is a larger problem that I believe that the church needs to address in order to begin to fix these problems. That is the focus of the church, and our perspective on how faith should be handled. This will be perhaps the most beneficial change the church can make: make salvation less important. This isn't to say that salvation is not important, but there is nothing we can do at the present that will impact how heaven or hell will be, but rather that we can do things to change how the world around us is in the present and will be in the future. This is the duty of the Church in this world, and this focus will be the most beneficial thing for the church that could happen.
First, this change in focus will result in a radical image change. The current popular image of the church is a dysfunctional body of false priests and apathetic masses. The image of the church has come under siege by false generalizations and the reality of a lukewarm body. When the church begins living in the world by biblical standards, there will be massive transformation. Rather than going to church on Sunday to learn about salvation or forgiveness or some book that most people would never read anyway because of sloth, the church would be a place to coordinate helping the needy, working on addressing spiritual illnesses like addiction, depression, and the struggles of this world (including sin in our own lives), and solving problems as a community. This organizational structure is intrinsically good and will be a witness in and of itself- a functional body of believers who would address not only the situations of life but also the criticisms of poor image without having to plaster over unfortunate situations- without solid leadership (and there is a lot of good in the church at present, but it isn't structural so much as by the feats of a few leaders and some followers) bad image is inevitable, but when the Church is a lifestyle not a social club the glory of Christ will become apparent.
Second, we will actually find salvation. Christ says that whatever is done to the least of these is done unto Him, and likewise that the one who he does not recognize (presumably by deed) will not be saved. Now this is not to say that faith is unimportant (for it definitely is, it may not be utterly necessary, an issue I will hopefully address after further reading and research), but rather that the living of faith is what is important. God is just, this is a message echoed throughout scripture. If a believer and a nonbeliever live identical lives with identical sins, but the nonbeliever does what is right and the believer counts nodding his head along to the sermons on Sunday as "enough" then who could justly be saved? Faith alone doesn't save, and works don't save either, but a faith lived is what is required. A life with a testament to faith is the only way to find peace- by doing what is right or by a devotion to God, we grow closer in relationship, but by simply pretending to believe, we deceive ourselves and the world around us. The fact is that we need to live lifestyles, not just mindsets, modeled after the teachings of Christ. Not everyone needs to stand behind a pulpit, and many people may be saved by simple devotion to Christ in an academic/scholarly/monastic method, but it is through doing good in the world that we truly manifest the Holy Spirit within and demonstrate that we have accepted Christ as savior- self denial stating "I believe in Christ as savior" means nothing if your life says "Sin is my purpose". This isn't to mean that belief is bad- faith is crucial to motivation, because doing good to be good gives way to doing bad to feel good. The debate on whether we are saved by works or by faith has taken a dichotomous perspective (granted, with both sides usually consenting that the other is good), but the notion that both need to be done as evidence of each other escapes many. However, as the Bible clearly emphasizes faith and also the importance of living in a Christ honoring way, it is probably important to do both. As a disclaimer, I haven't tested if I'm saved yet, so if I'm wrong, sorry, but I'm just trying to evaluate the Bible in ways that makes the most sense. And since testing would mean dying, it would be hard to send back the results anyway. More seriously, salvation is an incredibly difficult and important concept, and while I believe my statements, do whatever feels like it would be pleasing to a perfect, omniscient, omnipotent God first, and listen to one person second. My argument here is that the idea "Got it! Saved! Can/will be a bad person now!" is the issue, and that an intentional, Christ centered lifestyle is the surest path. Granted, humans aren't perfect and there will be failures along the way, for all have sinned and most will probably sin again, but it is so rare for apathetic 'believers" to truly do something because of Christ (not just because it was the right thing or it was good for them) that the challenge of perspective could change lives for the better.
Third, the Church living in service to God would change the world. The are estimated to be over two hundred million Christians in the United States. Let's say that only 10% actually do at least one thing that requires self sacrifice for the good of Christ, for example purposes let us let that be donating 10% of their income to providing housing for the homeless. Assuming a $50,000 dollar median income of Christian households (close to figures provided for the average American, but rounded for math purposes), that means with an average household size of 3 (significantly larger than the American average household size modified for math purposes, because I'm not doing the math on 2.59) that there are about 6,600,000 households donating $5,000. This would be $33,000,000,000, larger than the national deficit as of the time of this post, and could buy 165,000 houses at the price of $200,000 (the median prices of houses are either above or below substantially depending on region). While this is not necessarily the way that Christians could or should live in service. In fact, giving money is a bad way of service because it can be viewed as a indulgence tax to God, which is bad. While giving money can show where your heart is, it is most important to remember that it is crucial to act in such a way that is pleasing to God and have faith, not merely bailout all churches from debt or fixing the national deficit. There is a personal interaction that makes ministry and witness helpful beyond the monetary investment, and a change of lifestyle is important. However, the statistics just show how staggering the impacts of even just 10% of Christians doing one thing that helps others (admittedly being a very drastic example) could be. Likewise, if every Christian (or even just 1%) gave food to the hungry on any given night, there would be 2 million meals (or burgers, sandwiches, or whatever) given away to the hungry. It's not that Christians can't change the world, it's that we haven't. A just God would say that He has trusted us with so much, and we just buried our money in the ground while the others, even the unbelievers, have invested and brought about returns.
To conclude, I would like to recount a story I once heard. A waitress was adamantly opposed to accepting Christ, despite the kindness of a stranger. When the stranger asked why she was so bitter at Christians, she stated that they acted like they owned the place, and then didn't even tip well at the end, like they were entitled to free service. It is important to remember that our belief in and of itself doesn't make us exceptional- it is the fact that we live lives that witness to the glory of Christ that gives us our distinction from the world. If we lack that, then we become false and empty. By worrying about our own souls, we ignore the problems around us and live empty, hollow lives, but a focus on a dramatic lifestyle change could truly influence the world for the better, and spread the Word better than any pulpit ever could.
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