Rebuilding the Church’s Credibility Amid a Moral-Spiritual Crisis
Last June, I attended the International Reformed Theological Institute Conference at our alma mater in Yogyakarta. In a conversation with one of the participants from the Netherlands, we turned to the state of the church in our respective countries. The person showed me data showing that in his country, 51% of people aged 15 and over declared themselves unaffiliated with any religious belief. What about the situation in Indonesia? In general, Indonesians identify themselves as a religious nation. True, church attendance is still quite good. However, the trend of declining attendance is getting stronger day by day.
Research conducted by the Bilangan Research Center (BRC) in 2018 on the young generation of Christians in Indonesia found that 7.7% of teenagers aged 15-18 had left the church, 10.2% of those aged 19-22, and 13.7% of those aged 23-25.[1] These young people have their reasons for leaving the church. The BRC study revealed that 21.2% said church leadership was terrible, while the other 11.2% felt pretence or hypocrisy in the church.[2] If Christian and church leaders in Indonesia are not sensitive to this phenomenon, the number of young people leaving the church in Indonesia will undoubtedly increase in the future.
Russel Moore in this book reminds us firmly in the first part of his book about the phenomenon of churches that have lost their “spirit of evangelization” so that they no longer have credibility in the eyes of some people because of various problems that are not handled seriously by the church, especially those concerning the issue of sexual abuse that occurs within it. Therefore, Moore intends to warn Christianity and churches, especially in the American context. Moore insist, “The problem is not that they reject the idea that God could send anyone to hell but that, when they see the church covering up predatory behavior in its institutions, they have evidence that the church believes God would not send “our kind of people” to hell. If people reject the church because they reject Jesus and the gospel, we should be saddened but not surprised. But what happens when people reject the church because they think we reject Jesus and the gospel?”[3]
If the church loses credibility, it will lose authority. Many people will not only leave the church but also look down on it. Meanwhile, God sent the church to carry out God’s mission. Moore even harshly criticized church leaders who use God’s name to protect their good name and their institution rather than think of solutions to overcome the problems that destroy the church’s credibility. Moore warns, “How much worse is it when this horror is committed—or is covered up—not just by leveraging personal or institutional trust but by using the very name of Jesus to carry out such wickedness, against those he has shown repeatedly that he loves and values? When sexual abuse happens within a church, violence is added to violence—sexual, physical, emotional, and spiritual. Predators know this power is great, which is why predators and would-be authoritarians use even the most beautiful concepts—grace or forgiveness or Matthew 18 or the life of David—to cover up their crimes or as weapons to victimize the vulnerable.”[4] Moore also criticized church institutions that protect and cover up crimes, including sexual crimes, within the church as blasphemy against the holiness of God’s name. Moore asserts, “And that’s why institutions seeking to protect themselves will take on the name of Jesus, in order to say that victims, survivors, or whistleblowers are compromising “the mission” or creating “disunity in the Body” when they point out the horrors behind the veil. This—not “cussing”—is what the Bible means when it says, “Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.”[5]
In this situation, Christian leaders and churches need to speak with a prophetic voice and call for repentance to return to the truth of Christ in the Bible. Otherwise, Christianity must prepare to be abandoned. Moore, in this case, places a strong emphasis on integrity. He insists, “The way of Christ demands an integrity, a “holding together” of the inner and the outer, of what one believes to be true internally and what one says publicly. This is what it means to “Let your ‘yes’ be yes and your ‘no’ be no.”[6] Moore emphasized that Christianity and the church must return to placing Christ as the highest priority in life so that they can live on God’s path and regain credibility and authority. Moore writes, “Prioritize Long-Term Integrity Over Short-Term Success. Are the moral compromises described here worth it in order to have influence in a culture war? Only if social conformity to a set of rules is more important than a person’s conscience before the Judgment Seat of Christ.”[7] Hopefully, crimes, including sexual abuse, that occur within and are protected by the church are not classified as wicked problems. Because Joseph Bentley and Michael Toth say, “Wicked problems can never be truly solved.”[8] However, true Christian leaders must always be optimistic and hopeful in God. When the church is willing to return to the right path, God will show His truth’s light. This reminds me of Matthew Petrusek, who says, “If evangelists can effectively give evidence that the Church has a solid political perspective—specifically, a vision firmly established in objective truth—then we should be willing to explore if the Church also has a well-founded theological viewpoint. This attitude, he believes, would result from objective love.”[9] Are Christian leaders willing to humbly do so? This is indeed a big job that is two-way, as Bentley and Toth insist, “Our challenge is twofold: to make changes in ourselves while at the same time we are making changes in the world.”[10]
[1] https://www.bilanganresearch.com/artikel/gereja-sudah-tidak-menarik. Accessed October 29, 2024.
[2] https://www.bilanganresearch.com/artikel/gereja-sudah-tidak-menarik. Accessed October 29, 2024.
[3] Russell Moore, Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America (New York: Sentinel, 2023), Chapter 1.
[4] Russell Moore, Losing Our Religion, Chapter 2.
[5] Russell Moore, Losing Our Religion, Chapter 2.
[6] Russell Moore, Losing Our Religion, Chapter 2.
[7] Russell Moore, Losing Our Religion, Chapter 4.
[8] Joseph Bentley and Michael Toth, Exploring Wicked Problem: What They are and Why They are Important (Bloomington, IN: Archway Publishing, 2020), 2.
[9] Matthew R. Petrusek, Evangelization and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture (Park Ridge, IL: Word on Fire, 2023), 14.
[10] Bentley and Toth, Exploring, 223.
About the Author
Dinka Utomo
Dinka Nehemia Utomo is an ordained pastor of the Protestant Church in the Western part of Indonesia (Gereja Protestan di Indonesia bagian Barat or GPIB). He has served for more than 15 years. The first five years of his ministry were in the remote area of East Kalimantan, including people from the indigenous Dayak tribe in the small villages in the middle of the forest, frequently reached using small boats down the river. For more than 15 years, Dinka has served several GPIB congregations in several cities in Indonesia. He has always had a passion for equipping Christian families, teaching and guiding them to build equal relations between husband and wife, maintaining commitment, love, and loyalty, creating a healthy and constructive Christian family atmosphere, and rejecting all forms of violence and sexual violence. Dinka's beloved wife, Verra, is also a GPIB pastor. They have two blessed children. Dinka and his wife and children love to spend quality family time, such as lunch or dinner, and vacation to exotic places.4 responses to “Rebuilding the Church’s Credibility Amid a Moral-Spiritual Crisis”
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Halo Dinka,
I’ve been enjoying my visit to your beautiful country this week. I’m always so blessed by your culture’s warm hospitality and grateful for my Indonesian friends!
Thank you for your informative post and the statistics from Indonesia. Those statistics made me feel sad. But I have also been filled with hope at the number of next generation leaders I have met here in Indonesia this week who were so authentic, joyful, and inspiring in their faith.
Indonesia has changed so much since my time living here. I see how the materialism and influence of the west has crept in and impacted the youth. In a previous post you mentioned the impact of social media on youth and now the disappointment of Christian youth in church leaders. In your denomination what is helping the youth and young adults to engage with the church? How can we restore faith in Christian leadership to Indonesian youth who have become disillusioned with Christianity?
Hi Jenny,
I want to express my gratitude for your appreciation of Indonesia. Unfortunately, I cannot go to Jakarta and Serpong right now.
You are right that the development of digital technology, cyberspace, materialism, and modernity has a significant impact on young people here. Therefore, many denominations, including ours, are thinking hard and struggling as hard as they can to embrace young people in church life so that their spirituality grows solidly.
Several efforts have been made in our denomination, such as creating a daily devotional book for teenagers and young people to guide them in knowing and living the word of God. Next, our denomination, through local churches, routinely holds church activities specifically aimed at them, such as retreats, faith refreshment services, leadership training, and others. For the past few years, our denomination has emphasized the theme of intergenerational relationships that animate almost all church activities. The intergenerational relationship is an effort that our denomination is trying to make all generations genuinely feel that the church is their home, that they are all accepted and given space to walk together in carrying out God’s mission.
Our denomination also routinely conducts training activities for its pastors so that they can be sensitive to the challenges of the times and can answer the needs of the younger generation.
I am so grateful that you bravely brought up how often Churches can use the concept of grace and forgiveness to ‘cover up’ or quickly gloss over wrongs. Serious wrongs. Thank you for doing so and I continue to hold all my pastor friends in the light and with my prayers.
Hi Jana,
Thank you for your response. I appreciate it.
Cleansing and purification must be initiated from within. There must be people who dare to voice their prophetic voices so that the deviation is not ignored and normalized. These wrong actions result in many people leaving the church, especially their faith in God. Christian leaders and churches that truly follow Christ’s example certainly do not want this to continue. A call to repent and return to the truth accompanied by concrete action is very much needed.
By the way, thank you for your support and prayers for the church servants.