We have a major problem in the US - We are turning away from God!

Three recent research polls have shown a decline in Christianity occurring in the US in the last twenty years.

• Pew survey conducted in 2019 - showed a 12% decline in Christians from 77% to 65% in ten years.

• Barna survey conducted in 2020 - In 2009 reflected 50% of the population were considered practicing Christians. This changed to 25% in 2020. This is a 50% decline in an 11 year time period.

• Gallup survey conducted in 2021 - From 1940 through 2000 church membership among US adults averaged above 70%. By 2020 that percentage had dropped to 47%, a decline of 23% in 20 years.

All three surveys show that a significant decline in Christianity has been occurring in the US during the last 20 years.

Our founding fathers considered Christian faith important to the success and future existence of our country:

• George Washington - “It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.”

• Noah Webster - “Education is useless without the Bible. The Bible was America’s basic text book in all fields. God’s Word, contained in the Bible, has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct.”

• John Adams - “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.” …”The Christian religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of wisdom, virtue, equity, and humanity.”

• Thomas Jefferson - “God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought to be secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever…”

• Patrick Henry - “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship.”

• Edmund Burke - The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

Prayer is the starting point.

When Solomon had completed the construction of the temple the Lord appeared to him at night and gave him a warning and promise. The warning had to do with what would happen when the people turned away from Him and the promise was how He would respond when they reached out to Him in humility and repentance. This had happened with God’s children many times before and would occur again. “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land, or send a plague around My people, if My people who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14).

Unless We Pray Approach

• This is a spiritual initiative and not intended to be used for political activities. Heart change happens on an individual level that influences and eventually changes the culture.

• As we encourage people to pray we want to consider:

  • God has previously blessed our nation as a result of many faithful and praying Christians. Asking God to again “bless our nation” is equivalent to telling God that we have no intention to push back against evil, that we are okay with the current culture and would like God to bless our country anyway.

  • We must individually engage in repentant prayer. Our nation is in its current state because we as Christians have lost our salt and have allowed sins to influence our lives and the culture. As Christians we need to see ourselves as part of the problem.

  • We should pray that we as a nation would acknowledge, honor and turn back to the Lord, submitting ourselves to His superiority and sovereignty in our lives.

  • We want to be bold in the way we pray asking God for wisdom and guidance to help us grow God’s kingdom in our local churches, our community and our nation.

• Our goal is to encourage all ages of Christians to participate in praying.

• After praying we must listen and will need to become engaged as God leads us. We have a big challenge but we have Our Father to guide us.

• Local churches can be a great resource for supporting this initiative and encouraging their people to pray.

• We will sponsor public prayer with events such as Prayer on the Square.

• We will provide encouragement, prayer training tools, prayer guides and other information.