Michael Horton’s “Christless Christianity,” Ch.1: My Opinions on the Church

Diagnosing the problem:
The church has been going through a death that it herself is not noticing. In its attempts to become a relevant church, it has largely lost its aim and goal—the Great Commission. I would even say that the ultimate goal is found in the first question in the Westminster Catechisms (both short and large), i.e., enjoying and glorifying God in all of life. Horton is right; we don't need a life-coach. God is not here in my life to maximally make life better for me quantitatively but to 'kill me' daily and make me more like His Son. And what I found most appalling is the statistical 'error' George Barna scribes in The Second Coming of the Church: 86% of Americans claim some religious association or orientation, specifically in the Christian religion. How can America claim 86% of its populace when large churches like Joel Osteen's do not preach the gospel of Christ? Did I mention that Osteen's church is the largest in the country? (See the special on Joel Osteen on 60 Minutes. I have made it available on my Facebook at your, the reader, convenience.) My question here is—how in the world did we get here? And how is this bondage? Frankly, I think the churches, as Horton shows, is looking more like an American church rather than a Church in America. Nationalism is replacing piety; Commercialism is replacing the Word and Sacraments. The bondage is the turpitude of wanting to become like the world in place of looking like the historical Church. The problem is becoming relevant.