Evangelicalism and Its Future

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Evangelicalism and Its Future

• Gregory C. Strand
• Director of Biblical Theology and Credentialing
• EFCA 2009 Leadership Conference
• June 24, 2009

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• What does it mean that we part of the Evangelical
  Free Church?  When we say we are evangelicals,
  what do we mean?  Today the term is used with
  various meanings sociological, political,
  theological which carry with it significant
  implications.  In light of this, do we no longer
  use the word, or do we work hard at defining the
  word rightly?  We will focus on what this term
  means biblically and theologically, and trace the
  evangelical movement through history.  We will
  also attempt to address the future of
  evangelicalism, and how it is that we will, by
  Gods grace, keep the evangel, the gospel, the
  good news, at the center of evangelicalism.

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I. Introduction
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• What would things look like if Satan really took
  control of a city? Over half a century ago,
  Presbyterian minister Donald Grey Barnhouse
  offered his own scenario in his weekly sermon
  that was also broadcast nationwide on CBS radio.
  Barnhouse speculated that if Satan took over
  Philadelphia, all of the bars would be closed,
  pornography banished, and pristine streets would
  be filled with tidy pedestrians who smiled at
  each other. There would be no swearing. The
  children would say, Yes, sir and No maam,
  and the churches would be full every Sundaywhere
  Christ is not preached.
• Michael Horton, Christless Christianity The
  Alternative Gospel of the American Church (Grand
  Rapids Baker, 2008), 15.

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II. The Demise of Evangelicalism
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• Michael Spencer, The coming evangelical
  collapse, The Christian Science Monitor
• http//www.csmonitor.com/2009/0310/p09s01-coop.htm
  l
• Blog http//www.internetmonk.com/

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• We are on the verge within 10 years of a
  major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This
  breakdown will follow the deterioration of the
  mainline Protestant world and it will
  fundamentally alter the religious and cultural
  environment in the West.
• Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a
  house deserted of half its occupants. (Between 25
  and 35 percent of Americans today are
  Evangelicals.) In the "Protestant" 20th century,
  Evangelicals flourished. But they will soon be
  living in a very secular and religiously
  antagonistic 21st century.
• This collapse will herald the arrival of an
  anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian
  West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to
  levels many of us have not believed possible in
  our lifetimes, and public policy will become
  hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing
  it as the opponent of the common good.
• Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of
  ministries will end. Christian media will be
  reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian
  schools will go into rapid decline. I'm convinced
  the grace and mission of God will reach to the
  ends of the earth. But the end of evangelicalism
  as we know it is close.

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• Evangelicals have identified their movement with
  the culture war and with political conservatism.
• We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our
  young people an orthodox form of faith that can
  take root and survive the secular onslaught.
• There are three kinds of evangelical churches
  today consumer-driven megachurches, dying
  churches, and new churches whose future is
  fragile. Denominations will shrink, even vanish,
  while fewer and fewer evangelical churches will
  survive and thrive.
• Despite some very successful developments in the
  past 25 years, Christian education has not
  produced a product that can withstand the rising
  tide of secularism.

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• The confrontation between cultural secularism
  and the 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, and much of that work
  will not be done. Look for ministries to take on
  a less and less distinctively Christian face in
  order to survive.
• Even in areas where Evangelicals imagine
  themselves strong (like the Bible Belt), we will
  find a great inability to pass on to our children
  a vital evangelical confidence in the Bible and
  the importance of the faith.
• The money will dry up.

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III. Key Works Attempts to Define
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• Attempts to Define
• John D. Woodbridge and David Wells, ed., The
  Evangelicals (Abingdon, 1975).
• Kenneth S. Kantzer and Carl F. H. Henry, ed.,
  Evangelical Affirmations (Grand Rapids 1990).
• John K. Akers and John Woodbridge, et al., This
  We Believe The Good News of Jesus Christ for the
  World (Grand Rapids Zondervan, 2001).
• The Gospel Coalition, Don Carson and Tim Keller
  http//www.thegospelcoalition.org/

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• Some Key Works
• David W. Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern
  Britain A History from the 1730s to the 1980s.
  Grand Rapids Baker, 1992.
• Alister McGrath, Evangelicalism and the Future of
  Christianity (Downers Grove InterVarsity, 1995).
• Iain H. Murray, Evangelicalism Divided A Record
  of Crucial Change in the Years 1950 to 2000
  (Carlisle Banner of Truth, 2000).
• John R. W. Stott, Evangelical Truth A Personal
  Plea for Unity, Integrity and Faithfulness,
  Christian Doctrine in Global Perspective (Downers
  Grove InterVarsity, 2005).
• Douglas A. Sweeney, The American Evangelical
  Story A History of the Movement (Grand Rapids
  Baker Academic, 2005).
• Michael A. G. Haykin, ed. The Emergence of
  Evangelicalism Exploring Historical Continuities
  (Nashville B H Academic, 2008).

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• History of Evangelicalism Series People,
  Movements and Ideas in the English-Speaking World
  (IVP Academic)
• Mark A. Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism The Age
  of Edwards, Whietefield and the Wesleys (Downers
  Grove InterVarsity, 2005).
• David W. Bebbington, The Dominance of
  Evangelicalism The Age of Spurgeon and Moody
  (Downers Grove InterVarsity 2005).
• John Wolffe, The Expansion of Evangelicalism
  The Age of Wilberforce, More, Chalmers and Finney
  (Downers Grove IVP Academic, 2007).
• Geoff Treloar, The Disruption of Evangelicalism
  The Age of Mott, Machen and McPherson
  (forthcoming).
• Brian Stanley, Global Diffusion of
  Evangelicalism The Age of Graham and Stott
  (forthcoming).

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• Changing Face of Evangelical Christianity
• Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom The Coming
  of Global Christianity (New York Oxford, 2007).
• Philip Jenkins, The New Faces of Christianity
  Believing the Bible in the Global South (New
  York Oxford, 2008).
• Mark A. Noll, The New Shape of World
  Christianity How American Experience Reflects
  Global Faith (Downers Grove IVP Academic, 2009).
• Soong-Chan Rah, The Next Evangelicalism Freeing
  the Church from Western Cultural Captivity
  (Downers Grove IVP Books, 2009).

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IV. Important Statements
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• Not long after the great Evangelical awakenings,
  the Evangelical Alliance, led by Thomas Chalmers
  in 1846, stated its faith in a cluster of nine
  affirmations 1) the inspiration of the Bible 2)
  the right and duty of private judgment in the
  interpretation of Scriptures 3) the Trinity 4)
  human depravity 5) the mediation of the divine
  Christ 6) justification by faith 7) conversion
  and sanctification by the Holy Spirit 8) the
  return of Christ and judgment 9) the ministry of
  the Word.

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• In 1910, five fundamentals were identified to
  distinguish Evangelicals from the liberalism that
  threatened the church 1) the miracles of Christ
  2) the virgin birth of Christ 3) the
  satisfaction view of the atonement 4) the verbal
  inspiration of the Scriptures and 5) the bodily
  resurrection of Christ.

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• D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, What is an Evangelical?
  a series of lectures given in 1971 to the
  International Fellowship of Evangelical Students
  contained in the book, Knowing the Times
  (Carlisle Banner of Truth, 1989). Note how
  thorough Lloyd-Jones definition of an
  evangelical is. As helpful as it is, it narrows
  too much.

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• Guiding Principles
• Preservation of the gospel
• Learning from history
• Maintaining negatives
• No subtractions or additions

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• General Characteristics
• Entirely subservient to the Bible
• Always watching
• Distrusts reason and particularly reason in the
  form of philosophy
• Takes a particular view with regard to the
  sacraments
• Takes a critical view of history and tradition
• Always ready to act on his beliefs
• Always simplifies everything
• Always concerned about the doctrine of the church
• Tremendous emphasis put upon the rebirth
• Interest in revival
• Always gives primacy to preaching
• Always concerned about evangelism

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• Essential
• The necessity of opposition to doctrinal
  indifferentism (anti-ecumenical).
• Scripture the only and full authority
• Creation, not Evolution
• The Fall and Evil (historicity)
• One Way of Salvation (atonement)
• The Church Contemporary Issues

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• Secondary Truths Not Essential to Unity
• Election and predestination
• Age and mode of baptism
• Church polity
• Prophetic interpretation pre-, post-,
  a-millennial
• Sanctification
• Charismata, the spiritual gifts

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• J. I. Packer, The Evangelical Anglican Identity
  Problem (1978). (These six fundamental
  convictions are picked up by Alister McGrath,
  Evangelicalism and the Future of Christianity,
  (Downers Grove InterVarsity Press, 1995),
  55-56.)
• The supremacy of Holy Scripture.
• The majesty of Jesus Christ.
• The lordship of the Holy Spirit.
• The necessity of conversion.
• The priority of evangelism.
• The importance of fellowship.

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• David W. Bebbington, The Dominance of
  Evangelicalism The Age of Spurgeon and Moody, A
  History of Evangelicalism (Downers Grove
  InterVarsity Press, 2005), 21-40. (These were
  originally spelled out in his highly praised
  work, Evangelicalism in Modern Britian A History
  from the 1730s to the 1980s (London Unwin Hyman,
  1989)). In these pages he spells out four marks
  of evangelicalism, a quadrilateral of priorities.
  

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• The Bible, biblicism (The place of the Bible,
  always the supreme evangelical court of appeal,
  can be explored first.p. 23), The Cross,
  crucicentrism (The second distinctive aspect of
  the evangelicals was their attachment to the
  doctrine of the cross. The sacrifice of Christ
  on Calvary was the way in which the salvation
  described in the Bible was won for humanity. p.
  26), Conversion, conversionism (A third
  characteristic of the movement was that its
  members looked for conversions. p. 31), and
  Activism (The final mark of the evangelicals was
  an eagerness to be up and doing. This activism
  was in a sense a logical corollary of the
  awareness of having undergone conversion. 36).

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• Timothy George, The Unity of Faith
  Evangelicalism and Mere Christianity, in
  Touchstone 16/6 (July/August 2003).
• Evangelicalism is a renewal movement within
  historic Christian orthodoxy, a movement that has
  been shaped synchronically by four historical
  complexes or moments, which continue to shape
  Evangelical theology and identity today. (p.
  59).
• The Trinitarian and Christological Consensus of
  the Early Church.
• The Protestant Reformation.
• Evangelical Awakenings.
• The Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy.

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V. Definitions
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• Sociological (Social Sciences) (consider the many
  polls and surveys done by Gallop and Barna)
• Political (cf. Tony Campolo, Red Letter
  Christianity A New Name for Progressive
  Evangelicals http//www.christiantoday.com/artic
  le/red.letter.christianity.a.new.name.for.progress
  ive.evangelicals/22438.htm
• Historical (cf. the History of Evangelicalism
  series by IVP Academic)

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• Sociological, historical and theological, e.g.
  Bebbington and Packer
• Biblicism
• Crucicentrism
• Conversionism
• Activism
• (cf. Haykin, The Emergence of Evangelicalism, for
  a helpful, more thorough response)

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• Is it altogether appropriate that an activity
  like evangelism, an experience like conversion
  and an observation like the need for fellowship,
  even with their theological underpinnings, should
  be set alongside such towering truths as the
  authority of Scripture, the majesty of Jesus
  Christ and the lordship of the Holy Spirit. . . .
  When we are trying to define our essential
  evangelical identity, that we distinguish between
  divine and human activity, between the primary
  and the secondary, between what belongs to the
  center and what lies somewhere between the center
  and the circumference. (Stott, Evangelical
  Truth, p. 24)

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• one must distinguish between, on the one hand,
  the gospel as what God has done and what is the
  message to be announced, and, on the other hand,
  what is demanded by God or effected by the gospel
  in assorted human responses. . . . The gospel is
  what God has done, supremely in Christ, and
  especially focused on his cross and resurrection.
  Failure to distinguish between the gospel and
  all the effects of the gospel tends, on the long
  haul, to replace good news as to what God has
  done with a moralism that is finally without the
  power and the glory of Christ crucified,
  resurrected, ascended, and reigning.
• D. A. Carson, Editorial, Themelios 34.1 (2009),
  1-2

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• Biblical/Theological
• Define too narrowly we end up with greater
  precision but exclude unnecessarily.
• Define too broadly we end up with a general
  statement that is too imprecise.

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• They relate to the three persons of the Trinity
  the authority of God in and through the
  Scripture, the majesty of Jesus Christ in and
  trough the cross, and the lordship of the Holy
  Spirit in and through His manifold ministries.
  Conversion, evangelism and fellowship are not an
  addition to the first three as much as an
  elaboration of them. (Stott, 25)

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VI. Evangelicals and the Gospel
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• In seeking to define what it means to be
  evangelical, it is inevitable that we begin with
  the gospel. Both our theology (evangelicalism)
  and our activity (evangelism) derive meaning and
  importance from the good news (evangel). (Stott,
  25)

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• Evangelical Method
• Formal principle authority of Scripture, sola
  Scriptura. It alone is norma normans, i.e. the
  norming norm.
• Material principle substance of what we believe
  the gospel is what we believe is shaped by
  Scripture. The material is always tested by the
  formal.

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• 1 Corinthians 21-5
• The Origin of the Gospel (Stott, 26)
• Question Where does the gospel come from?
• Answer It is not a human invention or
  speculation, but the revelation of God. It is
  not human wisdom (1 Cor. 117) or the wisdom
  of the world (1 Cor. 120 cf. 1 Cor. 26), on
  the contrary, Paul calls it Gods wisdom (1
  Cor. 124 27).

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• The Substance of the Gospel (Stott, 26-29)
• Question What does the gospel consist of?
• Answer In the eyes of the non-Christian world it
  is not wisdom but foolishness not power but
  weakness. . . It is Gods wisdom and Gods power.
  Where are these found, then? Only in Jesus
  Christ and him crucified (1 Cor. 22).

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• 1 Corinthians 151-5
• Christological The gospel centers on the person
  and work (the life, death, and resurrection) of
  Jesus Christ.
• biblical The gospel is essentially the message
  of the whole Bible.

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• historical The gospel is not philosophy or
  advice on how to find God, but rather news of
  what God has done in history to find and save us.
  
• theological The gospel tells us that sin is
  first and foremost an offense against God and
  that salvation is first to last the action of
  God, not our own.

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• apostolic The gospel is passed on to us by
  Jesus' disciples as authoritative eyewitnesses.
• personal The gospel must be personally believed
  and appropriated.

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• universal The gospel is for every tongue, tribe,
  people, and individual.
• eschatological The gospel includes the good news
  of the final transformation, not just the
  blessings we enjoy in this age.
• To the six from Stott, Don Carson adds the final
  two in The Gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians
  151-19), The Gospel Coalition, May 2007.

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• The Efficacy of the Gospel (Stott, 29)
• Question how does the gospel become effective?
• Answer It does not require the contrived, flower
  eloquence of the Greeks to make it work. . . . In
  place of rhetoric he trusted in the Holy Spirit.
  He put no confidence in his own wisdom or power.
  On the contrary, because of his personal
  weakness, fear, and trembling, he looked for a
  demonstration of Spirits power.

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• To sum up, the origin of the gospel was not
  speculation but revelation its substance was not
  the worlds wisdom but Christs cross and its
  efficacy was not due to rhetoric but to the Holy
  Spirits power. Thus, the gospel comes from God,
  centers on Christ and his cross, and is confirmed
  by the Holy Spirit. (Stott, 29)

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• Distinction between a boundary-bounded set and a
  center-bounded set.
• my center-bounded set, Michael Wittmer
• http//mikewittmer.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/my-cen
  tered-bounded-set/

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VII. Related Issues
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• Evangelicalism and Denominations
• Global Evangelicalism
• Evangelicals and Catholics Together

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VIII. Evanglicalisms Future