Britt Beemer - Ready to Return: Bringing Back the Churchs Lost Generation

First printing: August 2015

Copyright 2015 by Ken Ham. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews. For information write:

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ISBN: 978-0-89051-836-6

Library of Congress Number: 2015947460

Cover by Diana Bogardus

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Dedication

As this book is about the younger generations who will be the leaders in the culture in the future, I dedicate this book to our 14 grandchildren:

Malachi, Kathryn, Noah, Kylie, Caleb, Lacey, Madelyn, Nicole, Emma, Josiah, Lexie, Kendra, Amelia, Olivia. May God mightily use godly offspring as these to call Church and culture back to the authority of the Word of God.

Ken Ham, President of Answers in Genesis

Parent Dedication

Having great parents is worth more than all the gold at Ft. Knox!

My parents, Elvin and Margaret Beemer gave me freedom to experience the world at a young age by allowing me to work on Capitol Hill through my high school, college and graduate school days. My father taught he would rather see a sermon than hear one. My mother lovingly pushed me to do mighty things such as starting ARG with little capital.

My wifes parents, Tom and Catie Cook, represent the most perfect, loving couple who are so gentle to one another that their undying love for each other oozes out of them for all the world to see.

These two couple come from different backgrounds, but help me to better understand love.

Britt Beemer, Americas Research Group

Contents

Chapter 1

A Call to Reformation

O n October 31, 1517, a German priest nailed a sheet of paper to a Catholic Church door in Wittenburg, Germany. Little did he know in doing so that his protest would change the world. But it wasnt so much his act of defiance that got peoples attention as what was written on that particular piece of paper. Long concerned and dissatisfied with the state of Christianity in his day, Martin Luthers now immortal 95 Theses itemized serious grievances he had against the Church he loved and served. He had originally intended his objections to be used as points of discussion, calling the corporate church institution back toward more biblical understanding beliefs and practices.

Instead, what it got him was excommunicated.

And with that, Protestantism was born.

As with many other organizations, the Church tends to drift and fade over time, losing her original simplicity, passion, and purpose. Without strong leadership and a constant calibration back to her primary calling, the Bride that Jesus courted is in danger of losing her very identity.

But its not so much that we need another Martin Luther. No, instead we need an entire generation of Luthers! We are in desperate need of Christians who are not content to allow the church drift, disconnected from the anchor of Gods truth. Tossed back and forth by every wind and wave of doctrine, and without a clear course to guide her, she is in peril, susceptible to imminent shipwreck or sinking. And those on board are destined to drown in a sea of ignorance, impotence, uncertainty, and ineffectiveness.

And nothing would grieve Gods heart more than this.

From a human perspective, the Western Church appears to be in big trouble. Any astute observer can see that the culture of the Church is becoming more secularized with each passing day. And in this book, we are detailing new research on the Church that will reveal distressing trends and particularly with millennials. In many ways, even the leadership of the Church has adopted many of the worlds beliefs and teachings. As a result, Jesus Bride does not influence the culture as it once did. On the contrary, this book will demonstrate how the culture is influencing the Church in critical areas. But what often goes unnoticed is the damage that has been done in the hearts and minds of coming generations. The latest research conducted by Americas Research Group reveals shocking realities concerning the state of the evangelical Church in America a picture of what is happening through the Western world. And the looming question is, Where will the Church be in the next generation? The research is very eye opening, and provides a grave warning for the Church and its leaders. The results of our research should also alert every parent, as it reveals where their children and the next generation already are, spiritually speaking. This generation of millennials will fundamentally change the culture, unless they return to a truly biblical foundation. But this is also a call to action for Christians in this millennial demographic.

The Bible makes it clear that the true Church is made up of the body of believers throughout the world. Even so, we continue to struggle and drift because of our inherent bent toward sin. As Paul wrote,

... but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin (Rom. 7:2325).

And yet, even as believers struggle, the Lord Jesus Christ nevertheless declared,

I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18).

Pauls words to the Philippians echo this truth for the Church:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6).

These two oppositional truths our struggle with sin and Jesus commitment to build His Church and to bring believers to maturity both co-exist, though admittedly with great tension at times. So while Christians contend with sin, the Church itself is still being built by Jesus, moving forward by His sovereign decree.

In the book Already Gone , we discussed why theres an exodus of coming generations from the church. We featured photographs of church buildings in England that were no longer being used for Christians to gather in to worship and hear the teaching of the Word of God. Instead, these buildings have been transformed into music stores, nightclubs, museums, etc. But the buildings themselves are not the issue. Whats even more tragic is that the exodus from the churchs facilities is but a physical picture of the spiritual departure across the United Kingdom, and actually across all of Europe. Today, only a small percentage of Europeans attend any type of church, with most identifying as having no religious affiliation at all. Such a phenomenon is on the rise here in the USA as well. What is happening in Europe is a picture of where the USA will be in the future if the spiritual state of coming generations is not changed.