Question: Why am I hearing more and more people saying they are spiritual and not religious?

They embrace individualism while separating themselves from corporate worship. They rightly believe God can deal with them personally and apart from "organized religion." They fail to reason much farther, however. They dismiss denominations and local congregations as irrelevant. Individualism leads them to think they alone should decide what is best for them. They become the final word on right or wrong. "Everyone has to decide for himself."

They discard the wisdom of the ages as lacking contemporary significance. They allow others to influence them on matters not related to religion, but somehow wish to make spirituality a solo issue. They fail to value the input of experience and tradition.

They focus on the errors and mistakes of religious persons as reasons not to participate in church. They will not, however, make the same generalizations for other areas of life, such as pharmacies, medicine or business. Americans are not troubled by their inconsistencies. Life choices are made on mood and emotion, not logic or principle.

They are pragmatic. If something helps them get what they want, they will use it. If the Church forbids certain behaviors, they will reject it as irrelevant to them.

So what should Christians do?

We work with the Holy Spirit who faithfully reminds people of right. We can identify His presence as the spiritual dimension in people's lives. We can verbally attribute their spiritual sensitivity to God's love and faithfulness. When we observe and articulate how God is working in them, some will respond positively. Spiritual conversations will continue.

We can testify to the value of the Church in our spiritual formation. We can tell how the worship, fellowship and teaching served as God's method to guide us to deeper spiritual truth and insight. We can explain how alone we are prone to err, but God gave us the Church, His people, to be helpful.

The Church down through centuries has had a tremendous positive impact. We can acknowledge the sins of the past, but refuse to abandon the Church as a redemptive and helpful agency. (We do not forsake the USA because of the immoral and unethical treatment of Blacks and Native Americans.)

We can describe the benefits and blessings of the Church. We can tell how God, His Word and His people relate to living life better. We must paint a picture of the relevancy of God's ways. Personal testimony can encourage faith in Jesus.