Gary Black Jr.’s book, The Theology of Dallas Willard: Discovering Protoevangelical Faith is a fresh reminder of the writings and theology of Dallas Willard. It is refreshing to be reminded of the influence of Willard over the past several years in my own life.

One of the great critiques Willard makes is how we, as the evangelical church, have put ourselves into a handicapped position. We are going for “decisions” and not disciples. I see this clearly in our annual church meetings. We are now celebrating “conversions,” and that’s a noble thought. Yet, when you look at the huge number of “conversion” for a church “winning” this award and you then look at their average Sunday morning attendance… well… ummmm… the math doesn’t quite “add up.”

Yet, it’s that “conversion” mentality (“Believe this set of propositions and confess them in this exact manner and you have your ticket punched to heaven”) that is crippling the evangelical church. (Willard, by the way, has his critique of the liberals as well.)

We are set up for failure. We are not calling people to discipleship. We are calling them conversion and then, at best, sin management. We are not calling people to actually obey ALL that Jesus commanded. We are not training people to bless instead of curse. We are not training people to look for Kingdom rightness in their situation rather than simply reacting like the rest of the culture.

Willard’s critique should not be lost with his death. We need these reminders constantly in our lives.