Mark Noll writing about the state of the Western Church at the beginning of the 16th century but with a warning for us today:

“The persistent fascination for over two centuries with political power, wealth, dynastic influence, and temporal advantage eventually began to tell on the entire church. The specific difficulty was persistent inattention to the questions that are most basic to the Christian life: What must I do to be saved? Where can I find secure religious authority? … Failure to address these problems meant that at its most basic level, the church was adrift.” (Turning Points, ch. 8)

We’ve been particularly focusing on the church in recent Training Wednesdays:

• THE CHURCH: Membership & Church Discipline [reading for sessions 2 & 3]
• Turning points in Church History: Luther at the Diet of Worms
• Turning points in Church History: The Jesuits and Dort
• The Spiritual Exercises (Ignatius Loyola)
• Calvinism and Arminianism