The real issue before us today is not differences in style or methods, but whether the Church still fears God enough to proclaim his truth without compromise.

In Orange, NSW, Australia, the Easter “Family” Festival organisers used banners promoting the event with the word “Easter” barely visible. On Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, the festival that should have been a clear, unapologetic proclamation of the crucified and risen Christ, the redeemer of sinful humanity, was diluted, softened, reshaped – and made “safe.”

On Resurrection Sunday, the very foundation of our faith, the event without which there is no Christianity, the highlight at one local church was a helicopter dropping 7,000 Easter eggs on the church lawn for the excited crowd.

The concern isn’t about the eggs – it’s about what is central. What will the children remember? Christ crucified and risen? Or the excitement of getting lots of chocolate Easter eggs? 

Charles Spurgeon was right: “The Church exists for the glory of God, not for the entertainment of men.”

When did the Church forget that? Surely, we knew it once. Easter is not ambiguous. It is not cultural. It is not a generic “family-friendly” moment designed to entertain. It is the central declaration of the Christian faith: Christ died for sin and every person is commanded to repent.  

“He was pierced for our transgressions…” — Isaiah 53:5
“God commands all people everywhere to repent.” — Acts 17:30 

Losing the Fear of God to the Fear of Man

Somewhere along the way, the Church has lost the weight of what it has been entrusted with. The day that proclaims Christ crucified and risen – the day that declares victory over sin and death – has been reshaped to make it acceptable to a world that does not know him.

The gospel is offensive. Yes. But it is the gospel that Jesus himself preached.

It confronts sin. It calls for repentance. It declares that man is not good, and that salvation is found in Christ alone. Yet, instead of standing on that truth with holy conviction, many have chosen to present it in a way that avoids offence and maximises appeal.

But the call of God has never been to make the message acceptable – or to entertain the crowds. The Apostle Paul said, “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). And again, “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort” (2 Timothy 4:2). 

Consider Daniel. In captivity, and under pressure to conform, he “resolved that he would not defile himself” (Daniel 1:8).

He would not bow to the culture. He would not dilute his obedience. He would not trade faithfulness for acceptance.

Not even in something as seemingly small as food.

When commanded not to pray, he opened his windows and prayed to God as he always had – even at risk of his life (Daniel 6:10). Yet he rose to positions of authority in two empires: without once compromising his faith.

God honours those who honour him (1 Samuel 2:30).

But today, many in the Church bend where Daniel stood firm. 

They soften, they accommodate, they adjust. Not under threat of death. Not under persecution, but under the pressure of culture, attendance, and public acceptance.

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching…” (2 Timothy 4:3).

That time is here.

Church Compromise over Biblical Conviction

The decline of the Western world is not accidental; it is the fruit of a Church that has too often chosen silence and compromise where God’s word demands truth and boldness.

The Great Commission was not about drawing crowds and entertaining them. It was a command: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19–20). That command has not changed. The Church must come back to holiness. Come back to the Word of God. Come back to the fear of the Lord. Come back to the bold, unashamed proclamation of Jesus Christ – crucified for our sin, and raised to life by the power of God. The tragedy is not that the world rejects the truth; it always has. The tragedy is that the Church, more often than not, no longer has the courage to proclaim it as written. It is a fearful thing to handle the Word of God lightly: he will not overlook the dilution of his truth.

Those entrusted to preach his word will give an account. Not for how well they were received, but for how faithfully they proclaimed. It is the truth – not the compromise – not the spectacle – that sets men free.

Lord, search us, correct us, and bring us back to holiness.

Taken from an article by Kris Dhillon in the Canberra Declaration, 9 April 2026