'Good-Old Boy' Mentality Break Down Will Restore Christianity in America, Says for King & Country
ANAHEIM, California — for King and Country duo brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone believe that Christianity is undergoing a transition in the United States, and that some things are being lost and broken in order for faith to be rebuilt.
In an interview with The Christian Post just prior to taking the stage Friday to perform at the 27th Harvest SoCal event at Angel Stadium, Joel Smallbone said that although Christianity may be in statistical decline in America now, he is not despairing as some are, noting that he has been reading Russell Moore's book Onward: Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel.
"What struck me was, even before I read the book, was that you can have a bit of a doomsday [outlook] like the good-old days are gone — that America, built on these great biblical foundations, that it's not the same anymore, you can't make an assumption of faith or scripture anymore. You can't make an assumption about morality of faith based on scripture, and I've always looked at it like it was a terrible thing but [Moore's] position was very striking."
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Even as numbers and cultural influence seemingly decline Smallbone said, "there's an opportunity to break some of the good-old boy mentality of 'God and Country' that is built into American Christianity." He added that Christians now have a chance to "break this and get back to what is the truest, revolutionary, passionate, accepting, loving variation of what is the Galilean Christianity."
"Just because there are less people in church doesn't necessarily mean there are fewer Christians," Luke Smallbone added.
"We come from Australia where maybe 5 percent are Christians, and the cool thing about that is when you say you are a follower of Jesus it means something. And I think that is what America is starting to kind of embrace. Your neighbors are probably not going to be going to church but the way that you treat your neighbor, the way you love the people around you actually matters," he continued.
Luke Smallbone further mentioned that so much of what we see is based not on what is actually happening but on our perceptions, but in fact God is doing so many great things.
"What happens is that the airwaves are flooded with negativity," he said, so people are much more conscious of the darkness.
CP asked the Smallbone brothers where they see God most at work on the planet today.
"One of the things that we have talked about lot since the beginning of the band is chivalry in relationships and celebrating a woman's worth." Joel Smallbone replied.
"I think there is a revolution of restoration in family and I'm excited to be part of that and hopeful that to continue on that family will be restored and through that society will be restored."
The Christian Post reported Friday that while performing in front of 32,000 in Angel Stadium, Joel Smallbone called the men in attendance to live lives of integrity and treat the women in their lives with utmost respect.
The Smallbone brothers will star in a upcoming film called Priceless that will be released in theaters nationwide on October 14.
