‘The end of evangelicalism as we know it is close; far closer than most of us will admit.’
Eddie blogged recently, pointing to a series of three articles by Internet Monk.
Although these articles are written from an American perspective, what they say is also very relevant to the church in Britain and Europe.
Internet Monk believes that within the next ten years we are facing a massive collapse of evangelical Christianity in the western world. We will face a hostile secular environment where intolerance of Christianity is built in to institutions such as government, media, law and education.
He identifies seven reasons for this. Not all of these reasons are equally applicable or relevant to the UK (for example, the point about Christian schools is much less significant this side of the pond.):
(1) Because of evangelicals identifying with the cultural (and political?) right.
‘Evangelicals will become synonymous with those who oppose the direction of the culture in the next several decades.’
(2) Because we have failed to pass on to our young people the evangelical Christian faith in an orthodox form.
‘…an evangelical culture that has spent billions of youth ministers, Christian music, Christian publishing and Christian media has produced an entire burgeoning 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.’
(3) He sees evangelical churches going down one of three paths: mega-churches, which are consumer-driven, dying churches, and new churches, most of which he believes will fail.
(4) Christian schools have failed to equip their students for the world we live in:
‘Christian education has not produced a product that can hold the line in the rising tide of secularism. The ingrown, self-evaluated ghetto of evangelicalism has used its educational system primarily to staff its own needs and talk to itself. I believe Christian schools always have a mission in our culture, but I am skeptical that they can produce any sort of effect that will make any difference. Millions of Christian school graduates are going to walk away from the faith and the church.’
(5) The weakening of evangelicalism will lead to a reduction in its ‘missional-compassionate’ drive.
‘The inevitable confrontation between cultural secularism and the religious faith at the core of evangelical efforts to “do good” is rapidly approaching. We will soon see that the good evangelicals want to do will be viewed as bad by so many, that much of that work will not be done. Look for evangelical ministries to take on a less and less distinctively Christian face in order to survive.’
(6) He says that much of the collapse will happen in the parts of the country where Christianity has, traditionally, been strong (the Bible belt.) But
‘…In actual fact, the historic loyalties of the Bible belt will soon be replaced by a de-church culture where religion has meaning as history, not as a vital reality. At the core of this collapse will be the inability to pass on, to our children, a vital evangelical confidence in the Bible and the importance of the faith.’
(7) One main cause of the decline will be a steep decrease in financial support for churches and ministries, as the generation that gave generously and sacrificially passes away.
I can’t fault his analysis.
OK, some of what he says is more relevant in America than it is here (e.g. the point about Christian schools, and the point about the Bible belt. And Christianity is not so strongly identified with right-wing politics in the UK.)
But in some ways, we are further down the track here already. The evangelical church in the UK is numerically much smaller than it is in the USA. The culture has already become significantly hostile to us.
What do you think?
Read the original article.
