Staggering Statistics

* 66% of Internet-using men between the ages of 18-34 look at online porn at least once a month

* 55% of pastors admitted to participating with porn online.

* More than 40% of women online are involved in problematic cyber behavior.

* The largest consumer of Internet pornography is the 12 to 17 year-old age group.

* 70% of Internet porn traffic occurs during the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday.

* Two out of three companies have disciplined employees for misusing the Internet at work, and pornography topped the list of abuses.

Source: www.puredesire.org

America 's growing comfort with pornography can be seen in the number of mainstream movies and television programs containing explicit sexual scenes, frequently by people not married to one another. And how many best-selling novels contain book jacket descriptors of "hot," "sizzling," and "erotic?" Additionally, seductive clothing is not just for fashionable evening parties and street corners anymore; it is even being styled into children's clothing lines.

In a confidential survey of evangelical pastors and church lay-leaders, from "Men's Secret Wars" by Patrick Means, 64 percent of church leadership is struggling "with sexual addiction or sexual compulsion including, but not limited to use of pornography or other secret sexual activity."

Nowhere is the comfort with sexual sin in the church more sobering than as seen through the eyes of our next generation of adults, referred to as "Mosaics" (ages 18 to 22) and "Busters" (ages 22 to 30).

From a 2006 Barna Group Research Poll, 59 percent of born-again Busters believe that cohabitation is morally acceptable, representing a majority of young Christian adults. "This same response pattern was evident when it came to gambling, sexual fantasies, abortion, sex outside of marriage, profanity, pornography, same-sex marriage, and the use of illegal drugs."

These will become the pastors and lay-leaders of tomorrow's church.

What is the church to do?

1. Understand that this can happen within your church.
Stop thinking "not my church," "not my church leader," "not my friends," and "not my home." Bring this issue out into the open and confront it over and over and over and over again with the truth of the Word of God. Our churches are filled with unconverted parishioners, or many who are not being taught how to live by the Word of God.

Paul directly confronts this pull between life in the body of Christ and life in the world when he writes, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, (why?) that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:2 NASB)

2. Build practical accountability into every facet of church life.
Allow no one conducting church business to travel alone. Form ministry teams. There is strength against the temptation of a secret life when you walk in the light. Stop private one-on-one male/female meetings. Windows can be placed into office doors, doors can be left open, or a support person can be present as a third party.

Church leaders, including pastors, are a high-risk population for sexual temptation because their job is stressful, often involving emotionally intimate personal contact when counseling; the demands on their time are often unrealistic; and they keep flexible schedules and frequently work alone.

3. Have an Internet use policy and enforce it.
Without this, your whole organization is at risk. You wouldn't allow any other addictive substance into your church. Internet pornography is more addictive than cocaine, and sexual addictions are progressive.

Is the church conforming to this pornographic society in which we live? Based on the surveys and statistics, the answer is emphatically "yes."

"Do not be conformed to this world" is a command, not a suggestion. What are you doing about it? What is your church doing about it? Is the next generation of leaders in your church truly being trained in the way they should go? Take a confidential survey in your church and see for yourself just how conformed to a pornographic society we, as the body of Christ, have become.

Patricia L. McClurg is the wife of Lynn T. McClurg, co-owner and vice president of Covenant Eyes, www.covenanteyes.com .