I’ve been trying to put my finger on what’s wrong with the North American church. Why, for the most part, are churches not growing? Why are we not seeing revival? Why are the “Nones”—those who identify with no religious affiliation—increasing in number while churches continue to decline?

I’ve heard plenty of explanations. Politics has sucked the life out of the church. Sexual misconduct among pastors and leaders has damaged our witness. Anxiety, busyness, worry, and the pressures of ministry have drained pastors of their strength and resolve. We’re living in a post-Christian culture. The list is deep and wide.

But I wonder if we’re overlooking something fundamental: a loss of urgency.

Has an all-or-nothing faith been replaced by a take-it-or-leave-it attitude? Has the North American church looked at the widespread indifference of the population, thrown up its collective hands, and essentially said, “Well, it’s a shame people aren’t coming to church anymore. Life is complicated. Evangelism is hard. People are cold. It’s an impossible quagmire. Boo-hoo. Pass the chips, please.”

An urgency that once marked the church seems to have given way to complacency. It’s not necessarily laziness or a lack of calling. Perhaps the sheer size of the challenge has worn us down. The resistance seems so great, the obstacles so numerous, and the prospects so discouraging that we’ve lost the fire to keep pressing forward.

Or maybe the problem are distractions.

Has the North American church become so preoccupied with other things that it has lost touch with its God-given mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ?

We weren’t called to build buildings, win elections, defeat our perceived enemies, police church attenders, sniff out liberals, or torch fundamentalists. We weren’t called to spend all our energy fighting cultural battles while neglecting the very people Jesus came to seek and save.

Nor were we called to confuse holiness with a Pharisaical obsession with rule-keeping, fault-finding, and hunting for heretics. Biblical holiness is not a witch hunt. It is a life increasingly transformed by the Spirit of God—a life that bears the fruit of the Spirit and reflects the character of Jesus. Somewhere along the way, have we become more passionate about defending our positions than fulfilling our mission? More energized by the people we oppose than burdened for the people who are lost? More committed to winning arguments than winning people?

So which is it? Too many distractions or too little urgency? Is our lack of urgency the result of our distractions? Or have our distractions become a convenient substitute for the urgency we’ve lost?

Maybe it’s both.

Maybe distraction feeds complacency, and complacency makes distraction easier to justify. We get busy doing things that feel important while neglecting the one thing that matters most.

Whatever the cause, the answer is the same: we must recover a desperate pursuit of those who are far from God. We need to return to a faith that puts our hearts on the line, our resources on the line, and even our reputations on the line. A faith that says nothing matters more than Jesus and the mission He has entrusted to us. Less distraction. More urgency.

That means putting the proclamation of the gospel front and center. Loving people. Calling people to repentance. Teaching people to obey Jesus. Living lives marked by holiness, compassion, and the fruit of the Spirit. Going after the actual lost sheep instead of congratulating ourselves for persuading a few wandering sheep from another pasture to join our flock.

The church doesn’t need another culture war to fight or another enemy to defeat. It needs a renewed vision of Jesus, a fresh surrender to His mission, and a burning burden for people who are far from Him. It needs to fall on its knees, return to the gospel, and rise with a fire in its bones.

The church needs fewer distractions and a greater sense of urgency. It needs an urgency so consuming that lesser things lose their grip on us.

Not tomorrow.

Not when the culture changes.

Now.