Yesterday, my family went to church. It was the end of our church’s annual Missions Conference. The guest pastor had led the conference. He had come over from Leeds in the United Kingdom. His sermon, and the whole conference, focused on the book of Haggai.

Our church is 200 years old this year. For a time, it was the tallest building in Georgia thanks to its steeple, which is presently wrapped in a blue tarp as the church undergoes renovations.
For 200 years, the church has faithfully preached the gospel, sent out missionaries, sought the welfare of its community, and made disciples for our Lord. We have time set aside, as most churches do, for a focus on missions, the Reformation, life, stewardship, etc., but mostly our pastors work expositionally through books of the Bible. As the scripture on a particular weekend is relevant to a contemporary issue, that issue might come up. But, as with most Bible believing churches that preach expositionally, the focus is on building up the body of Christ that the Holy Spirit might work through the believers.

About 100 years ago, a number of church denominations in the United States began embracing progressive theology. It was not enough to share the gospel and convert people. The churches decided they had a unique obligation to bring Heaven to earth. Pastors who were not using scripture to preach on contemporary matters were pushed out of denominations. The miracles got downgraded. The social gospel got elevated. The Holy Spirit working through the congregation was less important than the congregation working in the world.

Those churches have, over the last 100 years, started dying. They got so busy feeding the world around them, they stopped feeding the souls of believers. They turned political and preached politics, using scripture to reinforce their political views, and ignored passages of scripture that might contradict their zeitgeist.

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Erick Erickson | “The Fierce Urgency of Now” | Feburary 9, 2026

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