I was having a conversation with a group of friends the other day. The conversation turned to the state of the evangelical denomination over the past 10+ years. I wrote in a post why I am not an evangelical but that is not to say that I don’t like the idea or what they stand for.
Rather I think it is in desperate need of reformation.
I have been reading and enjoying Scot McKnight’s new book called “The King Jesus Gospel.” Scot’s whole thesis which is similar to my own is that the gospel has been hijacked and watered down into a sales pitch about heaven and escaping hell. One of my favorite – and snarky – things to do when people talk about the gospel or hearing the gospel preached etc, is to ask them what they think the gospel is, rarely do I get anything close.
Scot brings up many good points but primarily the one that I think is pertinent is how the state of evangelicalism is based around a salvation culture rather than a true gospel culture.
When you drill down on that point what he is saying is that the evangelicalism today is oriented entirely around trying to get “converts” or people to make decisions rather than bringing them into Kingdom obedience and surrender to the one true God.
Perhaps a careful critique of any denomination would bring about similar observations however the reality is that the evangelical denomination is one of the most dominant in America. Therefore and because of its popularity it happens to be the one that sets the trends for other denominations, generally speaking.
This is why evangelicalism needs to be reformed. For the simple fact that if we are to see sweeping change in the hearts on minds of followers of Jesus today in America it is going to have to start with a reformed evangelicalism.
I had always appreciated Phyllis Tickle’s book “The Great Emergence.” In that book she used history of all the major religions to outline how roughly every 500 years religions go through a reformation of some kind.
The reason for this is because it takes about 500 years for a religion to reach its peak of being institutionalized.
If she is right then we are at about the time where Christianity, particularly in our country, related to evangelicalism, is at the peak of its institutionalized mentality. From where I sit I would believe that is exactly true.
I am pleased that Scot and others are challenging evangelical leaders and pastors the way they are. Because as evangelicalism goes, so goes western Christianity – unfortunately.
Hmm,
Nice article.
Interesting point about the 500 year turnover.
The one thing that you are have not written, although I suspect you may have pondered the possibility, is that a reformation may see atheism take over as the dominant religious preference.
That is given the rather large advancements in physics and biology over the last century, and the internet so freely able to show the negative impacts of religion.
By the way, as someone outside the USA, who likes to view evangelical tv, evangelical to me just appears to be a salve for peoples conscience. Yes, your lord wants you to be rich, please give money to me, ahem, so that I can, ahhhh, build a well in an African village (now where did I leave that luxury yacht catalogue………)
Hmmm… interesting thought, Jimmy. I don’t know as I’m so convinced that atheism is the “fix” for broken Christianity (in some ways, that conceit was also tried contemporary to the last Reformation…we call it the Enlightenment). Don’t forget, either, the negative impacts of atheism (Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao Tse Dung, Hitler depending how you read him, but the latter is less-certain). There’s plenty of disgusting human behavior to be associated with most schools of thought.
Your assessment of evangelical TV gets no argument from me. Thankfully that’s not representative of the whole lot, just the self-seekers who get themselves on TV. There is still a lot to be fixed though. My point, and a major reason for writing this blog, is that among all the religions and their posturing, I see in the teaching and example of Jesus some unique points that could (and historically have, at some points) make a genuine difference for good in ways unlike other major philosophies. That these distinctives of Jesus are rarely what you or I see in practice is tragic, but does not repudiate Jesus, merely those who routinely spout his name.