CHURCH:
APATHY; CHURCH: SPIRITUAL CONDITION

Let me show you the progressive stages.

I begin with what I will call the rote. This is repetition without feeling.… We repeat without feeling, we repeat without meaning, we sing without wonder, and we listen without surprise. That is my description of the rote.

We go one step further and come to what I will call the rut, which is bondage to the rote. When we are unable to see and sense bondage to the rote, we are in a rut.…

There is a third word, and I do not particularly like to use it, but the history of the church is filled with it. The word is rot. The church is afflicted by dry rot. This is best explained when the psychology of nonexpectation takes over and spiritual rigidity sets in, which is an inability to visualize anything better, a lack of desire for improvement.

Rut, Rot or Revival: The Condition of the Church, 5, 6.