The 21st Century Church A Replica of the Christendom Era's Church Failures

The 21st Century Church A Replica of the Christendom Era's Church Failures

The Church was instituted in the Christendom Era where the Gospel of Christ thrived. Jesus Christ was the center of the Teaching of the Church, they preached about the coming Kingdom. And indeed the message of Christ was so fresh in the mind of the populous. In the 21st Century the focus of the Church is it still Christ and its message is it about the coming Kingdom?

The word Christendom generally refers to the global community of those who adhere to the Christian faith, with religious practices and dogmas gleaned from the teachings of the Bible. Spread throughout the world, Christendom consists of literally billions of people among many nations and peoples of various ethnicity. Correspondingly, Christendom also refers to those countries where Christianity is the dominating or territorial religion


In the age of Christendom, the church occupied a central and influential place in society and the Western world considered itself both formally and officially Christian. 

So when we speak of post-Christendom, we are making the point that the church no longer occupies this central place of social and cultural hegemony and Western civilization no longer considers itself to be formally or officially Christian. http://www.christianpost.com/news/31585/#upAPO4xTpxqffgKC.99

According to Abraham Kuyper 'When the first contest eventuated in this that the emperor bowed to Jesus, then... the kingship of Christ began to be triumphant in society...The kingship of Christ from this time on stood as a direction-giving power above the imperial power, which, in order to strengthen its influence, tried for an ever increasingly close integration with the kingship of Jesus...

When in the fourth century persecution ceased and the imperial power evinced a readiness to accommodate itself to Jesus, the basic victory became apparent...This principal victory continued on during the entire course of the long period known as the Middle Ages'. http://missionalchurchnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/christendom-murray.pdf

It is evident during this period that the Church obtained a very powerful position in the society. As highlighted by Murray in his article christendom ( page 2).

Christendom meant: ·
The adoption of Christianity as the official religion of city, state or empire, thus the message of Jesus Christ to be central and the pivotal focus of Faith. It was attractive and receptive to all societies and nations.

Furthermore in the Era we witness the imposition of a supposedly 'Christian morality' on the entire population (although normally Old Testament moral standards were applied)
In this Era the defense of Christianity by legal sanctions to restrain heresy, immorality and schism, and by warfare to protect or extend Christendom.

Indeed the Church as an institution was very powerful and its teachings and life style was the model for the whole communities. From the Government to the Peasants in the land their lives were hinged on the Gospel.

That which brought the downfall of the church as a central power

It with great displeasure to note that Corruption erupted in the church as a result of the favors that the church was receiving from the Empire and the power the Papacy had amused. The church was involved in the Politics of the day. Priests and Bishops would spend much of their time in the Political debates and not in the church teaching and molding the believers to keep moving in the faith.

Church in the 21 Century must bring its members to the place where Christ is back to be the center of their focus. However, we see the almost the same image of the church, Most Nations have even Christianize their Nations and have vowed to live by the principles of the Bible and later on to be molded by the Message of Christ. Some Great Nation have even crafted their national Constitutions with the foundations of the Bible.

The church and the State have been separated technically, but from time to time the two always satisfy each others missions and goals. Directly the Clergy are not running the State and not involved in the day to day Politics. But there do contributes much in the formulation of its Policies and Moral Practices.

In Africa at large one can witness the emerging of new ministries which seeks to milk and suck believers of their resources. Such Corrupt events we witness in the Church, Individuals raising to pursue their self goals at the expense of the Gospel and defrauding man by simply manipulating their faith. Paganism and Christianity has not been separated, the scared and profane is as it were one and the same thing.

This why we can be having a Nation having statics that shows that there are 90% of believers and yet there is again 90% people who are corrupt. Is the Church still relevant in our Time?

The Church is that part of the human community which responds first to God-in-Christ and Christ-in-God. It is the sensitive and responsive part in every society and mankind as a whole. It is that group which hears the Word of God, which sees His judgments, which has the vision of the resurrection.

 In its relations with God it is the pioneer part of society that responds to God on behalf of the whole society, somewhat, we may say, as science is the pioneer in responding to pattern or rationality in experience and as artists are the pioneers in responding to beauty. Niebuhr, H. Richard. "The responsibility of the church for society." The Gospel, the Church, and the World. New York: Harper & Row (1946).

To a great extend the church's message needs to remain making Christ the center of its Message. The Christendom Era and our 21st Century Church, which is under the Modern Era have not  much to offer in terms of transformation and realigning the church's life to the message of Christ.


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