Apprentice 2 Jesus

The Coming Evangelical Collapse?

On the heels of reading about the USA Today story on the decline of religion in America (posted below), comes this editorial.

I do not know this particular blogger (internetmonk.com), but in the past what little I read on the blog didn’t keep me coming back. This editorial was interesting, so I wanted to post it and comment on it from time to time. It’s so easy to read something once and then move on. It will be a challenge for me.

I would love your thoughts on the editorial as well!

I think it’s a little too dire of a prediction, and probably some wishful thinking. We’re just not happy as Americans anymore, and when we whine, we get even more attention.

Yet, there are some nuggets worth considering, in my opinion. There just seems to be a call from the Spirit of God to get deeply serious about the call of God to follow him.

Some of his thoughts:

Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants. (Between 25 and 35 percent of Americans today are Evangelicals.) In the “Protestant” 20th century, Evangelicals flourished. But they will soon be living in a very secular and religiously antagonistic 21st century.

This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.

Two generations? I’m not sure it’s that dire, but it’s possible. While I think Americans may be in an antagonistic society (and western Europe has led the way on this one), I don’t think much of the rest of the world will have this mentality. What is going on in Christianity around the world is much different than what is happening in America. I think this statement is a bit too “ethnocentric.”

We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. Ironically, the billions of dollars we’ve spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it. Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community. Coming generations of Christians are going to be monumentally ignorant and unprepared for culture-wide pressures.

On this I wholeheartedly agree. Growing up I was taught not only the importance of the Bible, but I was taught FROM the Bible! I carried my Bible to school. I READ my Bible! I learned about my faith and how to talk about my faith and declare my love for God.

We truly have a generation that doesn’t care about theology and has not sense of what orthodoxy really is. We’re feelings based. We’re results oriented. And it’s killing us. We don’t realize it yet. This writer is pointing it out. On this point I believe we need to truly listen.

He asks the question, “What will be left?”

First of all:

Expect evangelicalism to look more like the pragmatic, therapeutic, church-growth oriented megachurches that have defined success. Emphasis will shift from doctrine to relevance, motivation, and personal success – resulting in churches further compromised and weakened in their ability to pass on the faith.

This saddens me deeply. It breaks my heart beyond words. And I think it may be true.

Two of the beneficiaries will be the Roman Catholic and Orthodox communions. Evangelicals have been entering these churches in recent decades and that trend will continue, with more efforts aimed at the “conversion” of Evangelicals to the Catholic and Orthodox traditions.

On this I would say I am one of those already. While I am thoroughly Pentecostal and pastor a Pentecostal church, my spiritual journey had led me to the Orthodox community and I have been drawn in by the deep awe and reverence found in the Orthodox faith. I am not abandoning my denomination, yet there is something stirring in us. I help lead a liturgical Pentecostal service once a month! We may look at that model to reach into some ethnic communities around us.

I have also found the Orthodox faith to be full of the Spirit. My master’s thesis centered on 4th Century Egyptian monks who had powerful Pentecostal experiences.

A big question:

Charismatic-Pentecostal Christianity will become the majority report in evangelicalism. Can this community withstand heresy, relativism, and confusion? To do so, it must make a priority of biblical authority, responsible leadership, and a reemergence of orthodoxy.

This is a deep concern. We’ve been too flaky in the past. Can we shake that off and truly lead the way in the future? There are some powerful Pentecostal examples, mostly in Asia. I think this is possible. I want to be in that number!

If I am going to be “emergent,” I want it to be emerging in Orthodox belief!

This has been a long post, but I would love a conversation with any reading this and the article I linked to!