By Dave ShieldsHello! I wanted to take a moment to type up my thoughts on something God has put on my heart. I am unsure what will become of it, but I am leaning in. As I was thinking about the future of my life once I graduate from my Doctorate, I felt a return of some of the emotions I felt the last time God made a significant change in my life – the one that brought me to Kansas City. It was a mixture of excitement, deep thought, fear, and curiosity. What does God want me to do after this doctorate?
I found myself suddenly curious about the decline of Christianity across my own country. I have been somewhat insulated from this as I was born and raised in Oklahoma, one of the most conservative Baptist states in the USA. Now, I live in Kansas, a slightly less conservative (but still quite conservative) state, and Missouri, a highly conservative state. Even here, I see new churches being planted all the time, and I couldn’t help but wonder: if so many new churches are planted here where churches are plentiful, what is happening in the rest of the USA?
Without much thought, I started watching some videos featuring statistics about the least religious states in the USA. Many were somewhat expected, but plenty of others still surprised me. Based on Pew Research Data from 2022, here are the 10 Least Religious States:
- Hawaii (1,446,146 Total Population)
- 47% consider themselves “very religious” (679,688 people)
- 62% believe in some god with absolute certainty (896,610 people)
- 28% attend a church service weekly (404,920 people)
- New York (Skewed by the size of NY City) (19,867,248 Total Population)
- 46% consider themselves “very religious” (9,138,934 people)
- 56% believe in some god with absolute certainty (11,125,658 people)
- 29% attend a church service weekly. (5,761,501 people)
- Alaska (740,133 Total Population)
- 45% consider themselves “very religious” (340,461 people)
- 55% believe in some god with absolute certainty (407,073 people)
- 30% attend a church service weekly (222,039 people)
- Washington (7,958,180 Total Population)
- 44% consider themselves “very religious” (3,501,599 people)
- 55% believe in some god with absolute certainty (4,376,999 people)
- 30% attend church service weekly. (2,387,454 people)
- Wisconsin (5,960,975 Total Population)
- 44% consider themselves “very religious” (2,622,829 people)
- 56% believe in some god with absolute certainty (3,338,146 people)
- 27% attend church service weekly. (1,609,463 people)
- Connecticut (3,675,069 Total Population)
- 43% consider themselves “very religious” (1,580,279 people)
- 54% believe in some god with absolute certainty (1,984,537 people)
- 28% attend church service weekly (1,029,019 people)
- Maine (1,405,012 Total Population)
- 34% consider themselves “very religious” (477,704 people)
- 48% believe in some god with absolute certainty (674,405 people)
- 22% attend church service weekly (309,102 people)
- Vermont (648,493 Total Population)
- 34% consider themselves “very religious” (220, 487 people)
- 41% believe in some god with absolute certainty (311,276 people)
- 21% attend church service weekly (136,183 people)
- Massachusetts (7,136,171 Total Population)
- 33% consider themselves “very religious” (2,354,936 people)
- 40% believe in some god with absolute certainty (2,854,468 people)
- 23% attend church service weekly (1,641,319 people)
- New Hampshire (1,409,032 Total Population)
- 33% consider themselves “very religious” (464,980 people)
- 43% believe in some god with absolute certainty (605,883 people)
- 22% attend church service weekly (309,987 people)
Okay, but what does this all mean? Well, I don’t honestly know yet. As I lay down to sleep last night, I prayed for God to open my mind and help me understand what He wants me to do with these things. I asked Him to guide me through scripture so that I could understand it. I fear He may ask me to go to one of these places and do something.
The plot thickens…
When I went to open my phone at one point this morning, the YouVersion Verse of the Day popped up. I read it, and it made my heart jump and freeze simultaneously (yes, that’s a thing). This is the verse it presented: “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him“—Philippians 2:13, NLT.
Before I move further, I should mention that I sometimes feel drawn to various books of the Bible. This usually happens when I suddenly think that I should read the Bible and focus on a particular book. I have been thinking about Philippians a lot, but I have never paused and forced myself to read it. This is important because it is one of the New Testament books I have read the least often. Here it was with a very pointed verse of the day in the book that I have been, sort of, avoiding reading.
Naturally, the draw was too intense so I paused, said a prayer to God to help me understand why I was drawn to this book at this time. I asked Him to reveal other things in the Word that I need to read. I also asked Him to help me wrestle with the questions in my heart by what is revealed in the Scripture.
Once I started reading Philippians, another verse jumped off the page: “So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the Good News.” – Philippians 1:7, NLT.
But what does this mean now? Paul is talking to people whom he feels have been working hard in the matter of the Gospel. Evidently, the church at Philippi was doing a lot of things that made Paul beam with pride. I don’t know if God is saying that I as in, this guy Dave has a special place in His heart (maybe) or that Paul has a place in his heart for people like me. It could be both.
What about the imprisonment bit, though? All I can make of this at the moment is that although I am perfectly free and living my best life in Kansas City, I am still a captive of fear. I have built a comfortable life here and made plans to stay here for the rest of our lives. My wife, for the first time in years, is happily employed even though she has few friends to speak of. I am a prisoner of my service to my current church in that I have so many ministry areas that even taking a break from this church seems almost impossible. However, my wife has already told me she is suffering from substantial lonliness because she feels like most of the ladies in her age group at the church are superficial and don’t care much about her. My oldest son and my middle son are not being ministered directly by the church and yet I keep us attending. Selfishly, I don’t want to leave the church because I am comfortable but even the most gilded prison cells are still prison cells.
Then we come to the defending and confirming the truth of the Good News part. My degree cognate is in Theology and Apologetics. It is literally my job to defend and confirm the truth of the Good News. With my current degree almost complete, I have no idea what exactly God wants me to do with this degree. I had planned on finishing the degree and then “wait and see.” Perhaps that is all that this is.
But what if it’s not…
I confess, I am already growing uncomfortable with the way this sudden change in my heart is impacting me. But into this space, God continues to find ways to push me. Another book that I get flashes of thought that I should read is Philemon. I joke to myself that since Philippians and Philemon are almost the same abbreviation, I can’t be sure which one I am supposed to read. Today, God made it clear that He wanted me to read some from each.
After I prayed for more revelations from Scripture, I found myself diving in to the short (only one chapter) book of Philemon. It’s a simple letter of instruction to an individual that Paul wants to launch into the world and serve. Knowing this context, you can imagine my surprise when I felt drawn to this verse: “And I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ.” – Philemon 1:6.
So here we have another one of those dangerous phrases for the believer to read: “put into action.” Not only am I to put something into action, but I am also supposed to “understand and experiece all the good things we have in Christ.” Am I not doing this already? Or is this God’s way of telling me that he has a massively larger idea in mind so that I can truly understand the goodness of Christ. However, to quote a line from Andy Mineo’s breakthrough hit “You Can’t Stop Me” it says: “my God is good but He ain’t safe”. Perhaps I am getting too comfortable in my “safe” life? This is precisely what happened the last time God yanked me out of everything I was doing in Noble,OK, and launched me 366 miles north to Kansas City.
I am terrified now. Why? Because I know how much this change might mean to my family. We have just walked through some painful fires over the past year and things are starting to level out somewhat. Before I risk that comfort, I will need to spend a lot of time with God.