Are we in a post-church culture? Part 1

Post-church culture? Today we at the South Wisconsin District office, discussed prechurched, churched, and post-churched cultures with Rev. Dr. Robert Newton discussing each aspect of our world. He made some very good observations according to our current culture. For many years, we have lived in a "churched" culture here in America and often we have made comments that we are a "Christian" nation.

However, there are some major changes in our culture over the last number of years, sometimes subtly, but some things have turned our world upside down. Here are a few changes that show our culture have changed...

1) Businesses are open on Sunday morning.
2) Sports activities (NFL to Pop Warner are scheduled on Sunday morning) and parents are choosing those activities above worship.
3) When Supreme court justices were chosen, a major issue was whether or not they were Christian.
4) Sarah Palin's Christian views are trying to be portrayed as a hindrance.
5) People are most commonly saying, "I don't need church to be a Christian"

For this post, I am simply asking the question, are we in a post-Christian culture? What signs do we have to support it? And if you do not think we are, why do you think we are not?

The next few posts will go as follows:

1) What does a post-church culture look like?
2) If we are in a post-church culture, what should the church look like?
3) How do we keep our confessional heritage while addressing the needs of today's world?

Please drop your comments and questions...