Article March 19, 1966 Issue

Signs of the Times

Richard K. Morton

The Churchman

Prof. Richard K. Morton, Chaplain Jacksonville University, Florida Contributing Editor, The Churchman
St. Petersburg, Florida

There are those who are already calling these times a "post-Christian age." I think, however, that this judgment is both premature and unjust, lacking in discernment in relation to the hungers and quests of these days. There are those who do walk in the light and who possess that love which is the best evidence of faith and of fellowship with God. It is these who most strongly react against the mere formalism and status-symbol worship, and to the meaningless demarcations between denominations. They also note with concern the wild growth of buildings and budgets and staffs and ecclesiastical power, while seeing in many places no parallel growth of serious study of religion, and no depth in personal devotion.

I have heard several lecturers declare that the church will rapidly lose its influence in the modern world and disappear. What appears to me to be a greater danger is that it may become dissociated from its Lord, its members no longer seeing themselves as members of the Body of Christ but rather as well-organized and socially oriented groups federating with all other community agencies with an ameliorative, yet not a redeeming, purpose.

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