Some evangelical spokespeople blame liberals, emergents,
hipster Christians, agenda-driven atheists, and gays... for the decline in
(traditional, conservative) evangelism. Sorry people,
wrong target. Having spent most of my 60-plus years in the conservative
evangelical stream, I’d argue the culprit is us. Not them. We
did it.
In a stunning piece of illogic, these same spokespeople often
long for a return to the past. As though
ignoring the way the world has changed in the last 70 years, and recreating the
flawed version of Christianity that was modern evangelism, will solve the
problem. That’s what happens though,
when you point the finger at everything and everyone but yourself. You mistakenly think that if you can get
everyone to believe what you’ve always believed, the problem will be solved.
OK, so evangelicalism (and the evangelical churches that
represent it) isn’t dead. But the
practise of evangelism that gave birth to it, that gave the movement identity,
and expressed its theology, is.
Evangelism’s heyday was post WW2, through to about the
mid-80’s. Forty glorious years. Well, glorious if you were part of that
version of Christianity, championed by organisations like the Billy Graham
Association, Youth for Christ, Campus Crusade, YWAM, and Open Air
Campaigners. And by church-based
“Decades of Evangelism”; by the spread of the charismatic movement into almost
every denomination; and by nationwide revivals in places as diverse as central
Africa, the Solomon Islands, and South America.
But it’s over. If you doubt it, try organising an outreach
event, a mission project, or even a small, local, Gospel-sharing activity. Finding committed volunteers, resources, and
dollars will leave you exhausted and dispirited, certainly in comparison with
the abundance experienced in the 70’s.
Most Christians are just over it – suspicious of any request for money;
full of doubt about the claims made about past evangelism successes and future
possibilities; and just too busy doing life, to give their time. And they are
increasingly uncertain about the theology that underpinned most
evangelism. All with good reason in my view.
Here’s just a few of my thoughts on why this has happened:
1. Limited theology Evangelism was built on the foundation of a narrow
interpretation of the Bible that necessarily ignored contradictory passages of
scripture. For instance, the idea that “by grace are we saved, not
works...” turns a blind eye (or at least a jaundiced one) to the scriptures
that indicate we are saved by works – most notably Jesus’ sermon in Matthew
23. Evangelical views on the nature of God, the existence of
hell, the atoning work of Jesus, and the free gift of salvation by grace, these
all served to motivate an army of volunteers willing to do their part to save
the world. But while the Christian hoi polloi may be no more biblically
literate (probably less so) than in the past, they increasingly know that the
Bible contains bigger, wider, and more complex views. Understandably they are no longer willing to
burn-out (physically, emotionally and spiritually) in an evangelical cause that
is less-convincing than ever.
2. Confrontation is tiring and life-draining The concept that believers in Jesus (and specifically,
evangelical-style believers) are “saved”, and the rest “lost”, established a ‘them’ and ‘us’
delineation that most Christians now find draining. They work alongside people who are
full-of-life and creative. They have
family members and friends, who are loving, and deep thinkers.
Eventually we just got tired of believing that our meagre
attempts at doing life are somehow more acceptable to God, than our
neighbours. We suspect that our selective morality, that allows us to
ignore Jesus’ command to give away our possession but damns our friends for
having sex before marriage, just doesn’t add up. Consequently we’re no longer willing to tell
people to become like us in order to be saved.
3. The over-emphasis on the after life Evangelism has largely been about securing an eternal
destiny. After all, this life on earth
is just a finger snap compared to eternity, right? Maybe, but actually life here on earth is pretty damn
important to us. In the midst of all the
crap that goes on, we want it to work.
And the notion we were sold as kids that the evangelical milieu would
have a better handle on life as well as an eternal paradise, has proved to be
bullshit.
The notion that by belonging to a Bible-believing,
evangelical church, we would be part of a great caring community, that was full
of life and energizing, has proved to be something of a joke. So much so, that even if we wanted to see our
neighbours “saved”, most of us wouldn’t invite them to our church, fearful that
they would get discouraged.
4. We
value authenticity over institution Over the last 40 years we have had more and more
questions about faith, and about the practise of evangelism. Important questions. Troubling issues. But these haven’t been welcomed. Quite the reverse, they’ve been written off
as doubt or rebellion. No surprise that burying
them didn’t make them go away. They were
just internalised and we voted with our feet.
And we’re still voting.
I can think of a number of additional reasons but these
will suffice for now.
Most who know me are aware I spent nearly 40 years in
Youth for Christ – about as evangelical an organisation as you can get. I’d still be in it, except the International
leadership of YFC removed the New Zealand branch from the organisation after we
morphed into a collective of people determined to follow Jesus and our
hearts. That’s ok. Their prerogative.
But here’s what’s fascinating – they subsequently tried
to re-start YFC in NZ by contacting numerous people who had previously worked
in the organisation. Without
success. After 60 years of an
established, supposedly well-respected and effective evangelistic organisation,
no-one suitable could be found with the passion to make it work. I’m
not surprised.
