Is Evangelicalism Dead?
My answer might surprise (and annoy).
After recent years that have not been good for American evangelicalism, this year so far has not been any better. A parade of evangelical leaders appeared in an ad with the not very hidden message that those that oppose the Invasion can go to Hell.
Alistair Begg, much revered among conservative evangelicals, greatly disappointed many of them by giving a conditional okay to attend gay/trans “weddings.” (Personally, I think his reasoning on this deserves consideration but is still faulty.) Trump appears the inevitable nominee which means the divisions among evangelicals on him will surely fire up yet again this year. (I say that as someone who supports Trump.) And, as if things weren’t bad enough, the Mere Anglicanism conference put on by a mostly evangelical diocese in the mostly evangelical Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) cancelled
in the middle of the conference because he dared make a correct connection between women’s ordination and Critical Theory.
I warned you that 2024 might be lousy.
I read a comment somewhere, in response to one of the above developments, that evangelicalism is dead. Is it?
That has been suggested before. At least one has opined before that us deplorable Trump supporters killed it. Although I certainly oppose church services being turned into Trump rallies, as I also oppose services being turned into Democrat rallies (as a few prominent Black churches do), if evangelicalism is dead, it’s not Trumpists that killed it.
Let’s look at some big picture history. In the early 20th century, with the mainline denominations beginning to go apostate, there was a right reaction that became fundamentalism. Fundamentalists rightly insisted on adherence to fundamentals of the faith, particularly those that the mainline denominations were casting aside, such as the authority of Scripture and the Virgin Birth.
But fundamentalists became excessive in their rejection of the world. “I don’t drink; I don’t smoke; I don’t chew; I don’t go with those who do” is a humorous stereotype but one with some truth. Also, fundamentalists overreacted against the political Social Gospel by largely withdrawing from political action altogether. People forget this is one reason conservative Protestants, such as the Southern Baptists, were slow to oppose abortion in the 1970’s.
There arose a gentle reaction to fundamentalism — evangelicalism. Evangelicals also held to the basics of the faith; but they were more inclined to engage with the world, even with different flavors of Christians, in large part for the sake of evangelism. Billy Graham most famously typified evangelicalism. And Christianity Today became its flagship magazine.
But evangelicalism eventually overreacted as well. Evangelicals, especially what has come to be called Big Evangelicalism or Big Eva, became too eager to be liked by the world. Much of evangelicalism has become The Church of What’s Happening Now, always catering to what is trendy, whether it be Post-Modernism around 2000 or wokeness in recent years. And each flirtation with secular ideologies repels both the faithful and those who think evangelicals aren’t accepting the ideologies far and fast enough, hence exvangelicals. So now evangelicalism is beginning to bleed adherents just as mainline Protestantism did in the 20th century.
And when wokeness becomes yesterday’s news, Big Eva will chase after the next ideological Nu Thang and lead astray and alienate more people. That’s what The Church of What’s Happening Now does.
I freely admit that the above generalizes and leaves out a lot by necessity — you did not come here to read a book after all. I probably offend, too, and I am just so sorry about that.
So I guess at this point I should get with it and answer the question. Is evangelicalism dead or dying? Well, Big Evangelism is dead. I think it has been so co-opted by whatever secular ideologies happen to be trendy that it is hardly evangelicalism any more. Heck, it is hardly orthodox Christianity any more, which would make it dead by definition.
But many faithful evangelicals remain, particularly in the U. S., Latin America, and Africa. So, no, evangelicalism is not dead. But the patient must be stabilized. Evangelicals must become more based, if you will — based on the basics of the faith and not swayed by secular ideologies. The fundamentalists were right about that even if many of them went overboard in living that out in a legalistic, world-rejecting manner.
To make it more practical, if you are going to an evangelical church that 1. has not been swayed by Critical Theory (aka wokeness), 2. does not ordain women (more on that at another time, but I think Calvin Robinson is right — women’s ordination is an entry for bigger problems to enter the church), and 3. believes and teaches the Bible and not whatever “vision” the pastor has that morning, you are probably in a good place. I say even though I am not an evangelical.
But I must remind that I think the problem in the church today is much bigger than evangelicalism or woke church or the Church of Rome even. We are in a time of apostasy, perhaps even the Great Apostasy . . .
. . . and that affects the whole church, not just evangelicals. So do not be too angry that, after this somewhat long post, I say that “Is evangelicalism dead?” might be the wrong question.
Perhaps I will annoy you more on that another day.