A Lutheran theologian said, ”There is a subtle means of dechristianizing our people -  the church!”  He hinted at our Lutheran national church of which 77% of our Danish population are members.

He was right.  On the one hand my countrymen are completely indifferent towards the gospel, on the other hand the church has more power than one may imagine despite the general religious indifference and apathy.

It´s easier to witness to an ignorant fellow citizen about Christ than to give your testimony to an unsaved churchgoer.  You may laud good morals,  church music, the “peaceful” atmosphere of the church itself, its beautiful look or the charming personality of its pastor, but once you touch the core of the matter, i.e. the urgency of repentance and trust in Christ, I meet a “dechristianized” people far, far away from God.

A neighbor once asked me, “What´s your sect?”-   I asked him, “Why do you ask?” He said, “I saw the word “Jesus Christ” on your card!”  In other words, that blessed name was to him equal to a “sect”.

At the moment I´m trying to share with our cottage fellowship what the Bible teaches on “the Lord´s supper”, slowly mind you, as there are  prejudices against this blessed ordinance.  The state church shamelessly invites everybody, saved as well as unsaved (indeed, the majority are unsaved people) to take part in “His holy body and blood”, and so in this subtle way the church certainly becomes a means of deluding our people.

Helpless in myself, but depending on His Spirit, I open the Bible with those coming to us to let the word of God say what His church, His body, His bride, is about and that “the breaking of bread” is for His people only and is not an apathetic, dead church ritual that in practice “dechristianizes” precious souls.  I don´t throw in the towel, but, by God´s grace, I shall “preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” (II Tim. 4:2)

August 2, 2015, jn