We need a new

word to use for what we need in the church. A little background: comparatively,

there is nothing wrong with the United States of America. You can cite

all kinds of social perversions that prevail in American society. But

they are not the problems. Rampant abortion? Not the problem! Unholy lifestyles?

Not the problem! Immoral sex? Not the problem! Drug proliferation? Not

the problem.

Now, we are

so naive to think that if homosexuality were roundly condemned and banned,

America would be the better. In the same way, we naively think that if

abortion were aborted as a respectable response to unwanted life and if

the flow of drugs were stopped, America would be a far better place. Personally,

I don't think so.

Why? Because

the problem in America cannot be genuinely found in our cultural and social

lifestyle. The problem in America can be found in the church of Jesus

Christ. "We have not changed this generation. This generation has

changed us," wrote Michael Brown in a recent book published by Renew.

In 1997 George

Barna survey Americans who considered themselves Christians and Americans

who considered themselves unchurched. Asking for responses to 152 items,

Barna made a tragic, but revelatory discovery: responses from church folks

were no different from those of the unchurched non-Christians. Wow! Let

me put it another way: there's not a dime's worth of difference between

the lifestyle of Christians and non-Christians.

In her attempt

to change things in her house, the church calendars weeks of revival throughout

the year. Some churches may call the week by some other name, but in substance,

it's a week in which an attempt will be made to get church folks off their

blessed assurances, repent of their unholy lifestyles, and get out into

a lost and dying world with the life-giving message of Jesus Christ.

These traditional

weeks of revival are "feel good" weeks. We huddle several nights

to hear how bad sin is, how worldly the world is, and how we are going

to hell if we don't become Christians. The week finally gets over. Everyone's

bushed because they have been deprived of their restful moments before

the television for several nights. Basically, though, nothing changes.

That's why

we need a new word. The old word has too long been associated with a week

and not a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. The new word put forth by

Dr. Brown is Revolution with its call to Holy War.

We need a revolution

in the church. We have been so changed by this generation that we simply

don't know how unlike we are to the true church of Jesus Christ. Most

everything needs changing. And that's the word that anti-revolutionaries

do not like change. Our mother Great Britain did not like when the colonies

wanted their tea a different way. But it took a revolution to start the

greatest nation on the face of the earth, past and present.

We need Christian

revolutionaries. Not pew warmers. Not Sunday morning Christians. Not country

club elite. We need some men and women who are ready to go to war for

a heavenly cause. When the church gets full of revolutionaries, the world

is fair game. Then, the dirty devil will be shaking in his hot boots.

The Rev.

Dr. John Hatcher is pastor of

River's Edge Community Church

1091 South Jeff Davis Drive

Fayetteville, Georgia 30215

770-719-0303

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