Is the Evangelical Church Hopelessly Lost? - Part I

John Dickerson, an Evangelical pastor, says that “a majority of young people raised as evangelicals are leaving the church.”  According to Dickerson, “In the 1980s heyday of the Rev. Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority some estimates accounted evangelicals as a third or even close to half of the population, but research by the Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith recently found that Christians who call themselves evangelicals account for just 7 percent of Americans.”  From 50% to 7% – quite a drop!  (Taken from the N.Y. Times article The Decline of Evangelical America by John S. Dickerson

It seems to me that evangelicals are lost.  We’re wandering aimlessly and some (actually most…especially young adults) are wandering out the door.  We not only don’t know where we are, we don’t know who we are.  We’re lost inside and out.

I think we need two blog posts to discuss this.  In this post I want to talk about how we got lost.  Next time I’ll wrestle with whether or not we’re hopelessly lost.

Who were evangelicals before we got lost? 

The word “evangelical” is derived from the Greek word “euangelion” which means “good tidings or good news” i.e. Gospel.  Evangelical Christians have historically been followers of Jesus who actively shared the good news of God’s love expressed through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Our distinguishing characteristic was conversion; the belief that the love of Jesus Christ transforms human beings and empowers us to become different people. 

We believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ is literally changing the world.  The kingdom of God that Jesus announced is crashing into this world and the world is being transformed.  It is a message (and a movement) of redemption and hope.  Evangelicals have a beautiful heritage and a beautiful message.

The evangelical movement is normally traced back to the Great Awakenings and leaders like John Wesley and George Whitfield.  But the heart of evangelicalism (Gospel) is as old as the Christian movement itself.

So what happened?

Like other good movements before and since, the Evangelical movement has been sort of high-jacked and morphed into a kind of “mutant” that doesn’t look much like it’s original self.  From my perspective, subcultures (think of them as viruses) have grown up in the evangelical church.  Over time these subcultures (viruses) have severed us from our identity and cut us loose to drift aimlessly.  There were other factors but I think these three were primary. 

Fundamentalism

A lot can and has been said about Fundamentalism but I will try to simplify as much as possible.  Fundamentalism is the 20^th century version of 1^st century Phariseeism.  The Pharisees were the legalists of their day and the Fundamentalists were (and are) the legalists of their day.

In response to the threat of liberalism in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, a group of protestant pastors got together and developed a list of “fundamentals.”  These were the “essential” beliefs that, in their opinion, one must adopt in order to be considered a Christian.  Most lists included five “fundamental” beliefs: biblical inerrancy, the virgin birth of Christ, substitutionary atonement, the bodily resurrection of Christ and the miracles of Christ.    

Here’s the important part.  The list itself was not the problem.  Many evangelicals hold to these beliefs.  The problem was the same one that always slips up from behind and bites legalists in the butt.  For Fundamentalists, an empirical belief in the fundamentals became the way one achieved salvation.  Fundamentalism turned “belief” into just another form of works salvation.  Instead of entrusting ourselves into the loving care of God through his Son Jesus, a beautiful transformation, “belief” became just another way to earn God’s favor.

Consequently we lost the transformation and the beauty.  The problem with any form of legalism is that it doesn’t actually change who we are.  We remain the same people (often bigoted and hateful), but we feel okay because we “believe” the right things. 

Fundamentalism may have been the greatest blow to the evangelical church.  Some say it was the virus that killed us.

Militant Eschatology

I thought I made up that term until I googled it and discovered that there’s a book out entitled Restorative Militant Eschatology.  I don’t know what the book’s about but here’s what I mean.

Eschatology is a word that is used to describe the study of the “end times.”  Around the time Fundamentalism came into vogue, a school of eschatology developed, at least partly out of the Fundamentalist movement.  In other words, this understanding of how this age ends and the new age begins is a little over 100 years old.  So, for 1900 years the church functioned without this idea of the end of time.

Here’s how I would describe this school of eschatology in a nut shell.  There are lots of variations on this theme, but here’s a summary.  The world is a really bad place and it’s only going to get worse.  At some point the world will be much like the time of Noah when human beings were totally controlled by the evil in their hearts.  When that happens Jesus Christ will return, but unlike his first coming when he came in peace and sacrificed his life, this time he will come in war and sacrifice the lives of his enemies.  The first time he came as a lamb.  The next time he’s coming as a lion.  In short, he will destroy all his enemies and set up his kingdom.  This theory is, of course, derived from a very specific understanding of the book of Revelation and parts of Daniel.

There are lots of flaws with this concept of “the end of time,” but the biggest problem, in my opinion, is its militant nature.  If this is the way Jesus and his Father work, then God is no different from any of the warrior gods in the Greek or Babylonian pantheons.  Jesus didn’t really defeat evil on the cross.  To get the job done he will have to come back and slaughter his enemies. 

Think about it.  If this is the way God operates then the cross is depleted of its power and we don’t really have a Gospel worth sharing.  Maybe this is one reason no one is listening when we try to share it.  We do have a beautiful story to tell.  It’s a story about a God whose love is so powerful it moves him to rescue the world.  He doesn’t have to destroy his enemies by nailing them to crosses and killing them.  He defeated evil and sin and death and hell by being nailed to the cross and dying.  His resurrection is the proof. 

Without that story to tell, evangelicals are lost.  

Militant Activism (I think we could list some more but I’ll stop because this post is getting really long.)

Fundamentalism needs two things to survive and thrive; a belief system and a list of enemies that fail to adhere to the belief system.  Militant activism is the fuel that keeps the Fundamentalist engine running.  Whether Christian, Muslim or some other expression of Fundamentalism, they need an enemy to fight (sometimes physically).

For Christian Fundamentalists the enemies tend to change over time.  Right now abortionists and homosexuals seem to be our primary targets.  Like our Pharisee ancestors we are bent on ignoring the beam in our own eye while we poke at the speck in the eyes of others.  The end result is wide spread blindness.

The other day I received a request to fill out a survey from Lifeway Research, a division of the Southern Baptist Convention.  One of the questions instructed me to rate how much of an intentional effort my church is making to address abortion and homosexuality.  I responded by saying that our church is pretty busy trying to deal with our own sins of gluttony and greed.

Sadly, evangelicals have become known for what we are against, not what we’re for.  Various research groups have conducted random surveys asking, “What is an Evangelical?”  Typical answers are almost always negative.  Most people identify us as narrow minded, bigoted, right wing, hateful and negative.

Not many are saying, “Oh yeah, evangelicals are those followers of Jesus Christ that believe he is transforming our world one person at a time.”  We don’t hear many people say, “Evangelicals are people filled with love for their enemies.  They follow the example of the founder of their movement.  They reflect the beauty of Jesus Christ!” 

Consequently, more and more young people are simply leaving the church.  There is a new wave of atheism gaining momentum among young adults.  The evangelical church is lost and we’re losing those who can’t see Jesus in us.

Are we hopelessly lost?  Stay tuned.

TMI

I’ve been thinking about the amount of information that streams through my fingers and head every day.

When I was a kid, local and global news had to be squeezed into a one hour block of time every evening after we ate dinner.  My dad turned on the TV, adjusted the rabbit ears and we watched as Doug Mayes and Walter Cronkite, respectfully, told us everything we needed to know.  Our choices were pretty limited.  Only one channel worked.

Still, there were evenings when I felt overwhelmed by the news, especially the national news.  I remember scenes from the Vietnam War and a barrage of information about Water Gate.  I asked my dad if Cronkite was talking about Cowan’s Ford Dam and he said no, he was talking about Nixon.  I didn’t understand.

Today, if I were so inclined (and the problem is, I am), I could read articles, tweets, books and web sites twenty four hours a day.   

Add to that the compulsion to contribute my own tweets, posts, blogs and sermons to the vast sea of information floating around out there and the problem becomes overwhelming.  Sometimes when I sit down in front of the computer screen I feel like I’m going to throw up.

And so I do.  I regurgitate the stuff that’s rattling around in my head onto that computer screen and most of the time I feel like it’s pretty worthless.  My measly little neurons firing at some topic about which others have already written volumes feels like shooting a cap gun beside a cannon.

I’m really not sure why I’m saying all this now.  Maybe I just need to admit to myself and to you guys that I’m suffering from mental fatigue.  (One or two of you – you know who you are – who are going to write a “funny” comment right now.  Go ahead.  Get it out of your system.) 

Can I be really honest?  Sometimes I walk into my office and, for the life of me, it’s all I can do to keep myself from picking up my souvenir Braves baseball bat and beating the mother board out of my computer (which would be really bad since it doesn’t belong to me).   

Our Church is Moving to One Worship Service

This coming Sunday our church (zoarchurch.com) will transition from our current schedule of two morning worship services (one contemporary and one traditional) to one worship service.  The plan is to try this for three months and see how it goes.  I thought I would say a word or two about why we’re making this move.

Disclaimer:  I want to be clear about what I’m not saying.  I’m not saying that it’s a bad idea for churches to have more than one worship service.  If your church has more than one service, that’s great.  I just want to state as clearly as I can why I believe our church is making a change.  (By the way, I don’t claim that all our church members feel the same way.)  So here are two of the primary reasons.

1.      I think our church is stating clearly that worship is about expressing our adoration to God, not about satisfying our personal preferences.

Soren Kierkegaard was a philosopher/theologian who described worship as a drama or a play.  He said that in the worship drama it’s wrong to think of the congregation as the audience, the worship leaders (singers, musicians, preachers etc.) as the actors and God as the prompter.  He believed that the worship leaders were to be the prompters, all of us (the leaders and the congregation) are the actors and God is the audience.  In the worship drama, God is an audience of one.

Sometimes someone will tell me (most often through one of our deacons) that they don’t like the way we did something in a worship service.  Or I will hear the phrase, “I just don’t get anything out of that kind of worship.”  While I appreciate and try to respect individual preferences, I have to say that “getting something out of worship” is not our objective.  Our objective is not to get anything, but to give God our all in worship.

Is it nice to get an emotional charge when we worship?  Of course!  But if I measure the value of worship by my emotional barometer I’m afraid I will seldom get an accurate reading.  Can I be honest?  I think the relatively recent movement to make our personal preferences the single criterion for worship decisions has not only distorted the church’s understanding of worship, it has depleted our worship services of real influence in the communities we are called to evangelize.  

Which brings me to the second reason…

2.      I think our church is realizing that the evangelistic power of our worship is not in trying to have “seeker sensitive” worship services but in seeking to have Spirit filled worship services.   

As a young pastor I came along in the heyday of the “seeker sensitive” movement.  I must admit that I embraced it wholeheartedly.  I mean I swallowed it hook, line and sinker!  Now, in the dying embers of that movement I can see clearly that those who are outside of the church are not expecting, or even wanting the church to be more seeker sensitive. 

Let me state it this way.  I can’t remember talking to a non-Christian who told me they would come to our worship services if we had more edgy music, or more traditional music.  No one tells me that they want better preachers or better teachers or better singers.  Let’s be honest.  If we are trying to draw people into our worship services by providing them with a better show than they can get somewhere else we might as well give up.  They can attend almost any concert and hear better music.  (I have a DVD of the Eagles in concert that is better than any music I’ve ever heard in a worship service.)  They can go to almost any comedy club and hear a more entertaining speaker. 

Here’s the truth, in my opinion.  Non-Christians are not looking for churches that blow them away with a great show; whether the show is southern gospel or gospel rap or anything in between.  Non-Christians are looking for churches that blow them away with a genuine movement of the Spirit of God when they come together to worship.    

Jesus said, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (John 12:32)  During the season of Lent we remember the truth of this statement.  Jesus was lifted up on a cross and, amazingly, for two thousand years people have been drawn to him.

This is what churches are called to do in our worship services.  I think our church is simply trying to find our place in this long and time honored tradition of exalting Jesus.  I guess we’ll see if this is the way forward for us.  Either way, I’m really proud of our people for seeking God’s will and trying to follow his leadership.

Tweeting about Prayer

I've been tweeting about prayer; which seems almost sacrilegious to me, not to mention futile.  With each twitter post I insinuate that I’m actually saying something significant about the ancient, mysterious, majestic, miraculous practice of prayer in 140 characters or less.

Maybe preaching a sermon on prayer is even more sacrilegious and even more futile.  (But I’m still going to try it this Sunday.)  Maybe the further you wade in, the deeper you get until finally you drown in the depths of the unfathomable.  I’m not sure.     

I think it’s worth noting that Jesus taught the disciples how to pray in twitter sized statements.  In Luke’s version it’s a three verse tweet.  (Luke 11:2-4)

In the ancient world (Greek and Jewish) the common practice was to pray very long, complicated prayers.  They thought that quoting lengthy incantations over and over again, just the right way, for a really long time would sort of manipulate God (or the gods) into hearing and answering their prayers.  God (or the gods) would have no choice but capitulate to prayers done correctly.     

Of course we are far too sophisticated to believe such silliness about prayer now.  No modern believer would imagine that they could actually manipulate the creator of the universe by using certain words or phrases; magical incantations that are more about the one praying than the one to whom the prayer is directed. 

Things like being sure we claim the answer to the prayer in Jesus name, and being sure to word the prayer so that it sounds like our faith is not actually quite week, and being sure that we banish satanic forces when we pray, and being sure we plead the power of the blood when we pray.  Stuff like that.

Maybe we should just pay attention to Jesus’ twitter feed.  Maybe prayer is not really that complicated.  Maybe it’s pretty simple.  Maybe the most powerful prayers are 140 characters or less.

Help!

Thank you!

God, I don’t understand!

God, I’m so angry right now!

Praise God!

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Feel free to share your favorite twitter length prayer.

God Cares for You

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” I Peter 5:7

Honestly, that seems a little far-fetched to me… doesn’t that seem far-fetched to you?  I mean, think about it!  Think about that crazy claim!  God cares… for you! 

We’re talking about the one responsible for creating a universe so vast, so expansive we simply can’t begin to comprehend it.  Scientists tell us that the “observable” universe is 46 billion light years in radius.  That’s pretty big! 

And yet, according to this ancient writer, the one responsible for the creation of this universe (we refer to this entity as “God”) not only knows of the existence of one human being on one very small planet in one small solar system in one galaxy in that vast universe (which could be one among many), God cares.  God cares for you!

So how could anyone be expected to believe something that unbelievable?  Who would ever, even for one moment, entertain the thought that it could be true?  It just feels so…well…far-fetched! 

But what if it is…true?

This morning I spent some time meditating on that verse.  I sometimes have doubts like everyone else, but the longer I meditated on that verse the more convinced I became that it must be true.  This morning it kept reverberating through my mind (and some part of my being that is capable of knowing better than my mind).  The audacious thing this writer claimed simply could not possibly be untrue! 

Think about it!  It’s just too beautiful to not be true!

If the universe came into existence through the intentional creative work of an entity we call God, and if that God envisioned “human beings” and possessed the mind and heart to make that dream a reality, then would it not be impossible for that God, with that mind and heart, to not care about every single one of those human beings?

Think about it!  It’s just too beautiful to not be true!  God is just too beautiful for it to not be true!

So here we are, 2000 years after Peter wrote these words and I’m inviting you to embrace the possibility that it must be true.

For a few moments let this thought sink deep into your spiritual psyche.  God cares for you!  Then, in the cosmic wake of such a beautiful thought cast your anxiety on him.  Go ahead.  You can do it.  Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Taking a Safer Road

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter.  For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”  So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.  

Exodus 13:17-18

I took a break from blogging over the summer, which was a good idea since I didn’t have much to say.  Of course, that’s not to say that I couldn’t have said something, because preachers can always talk until we think of something to say.  But it’s almost always better to wait until you have something worth saying to say it.

That being said, I think this passage of scripture speaks volumes.  And the volumes it speaks are worth repeating, and hearing.

The newly liberated Hebrew people leave Egypt celebrating the victory of their God over the gods of Egypt.  Obviously, they must have been on an emotional high.  But the writer gives us some insight into God’s unique perspective.  God knows that they are not ready for the challenges that lie ahead and so he provides a detour, a safer road.  

Instead of taking them the shortest route, which would lead them into the territory of the militarily superior Philistines, he leads them down the desert road; a longer but safer route.  Ex-slaves don’t turn into the X-men over night. 

In this season of my life I feel pretty overwhelmed.  I feel as if I can’t quite get my head on straight.  Have you ever felt like that?  Can you relate to what I’m saying?  Sometimes I feel pulled in too many different directions, like I’m going to splinter into mini fragments of myself.  I’m trying to deal with all the different things competing for my time and attention.  I’m afraid that I will fail to do anything really well because there just won’t be enough of me fully dedicated to one thing long enough to do it right before I have to redirect my attention to something else. (Deep breath!)

I feel like an ex-slave trying to be an X-man.

This passage may feel fairly inconsequential to you but it is having a big impact on me.  Here’s what I’m learning about God.  The God of the scriptures is willing to let me slow down and take a safer route.  He even insists that I do!   

The God I create in my head normally tells me to do more and to do it better.  He tells me to measure up, to achieve, to excel.  But the God of the scriptures tells me to wait, to slow down, to reroute away from the foe I’m not ready to fight.  And the God of the scriptures leads me down the desert road where I am safe. 

I’m trying to get to know this God.  Maybe you’re like me.  Maybe you need to get to know him too. 

What I’m Beginning to Learn about Marriage after 31 Years

Barely babies when we wed, my bride and I were possibly the two most naïve human beings who ever “jumped the broom!” 

At the Lincoln County Court House we began our lives together as husband and wife.  We stood before a magistrate, looked deeply into one another’s eyes and pronounced our life long fidelity; for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.  Looking back, I don’t think either of us had the slightest notion just how true those words would be… all of those words.

For us, marriage has been an exercise in extremes.  I think we have known almost all of the ecstasy and agony that marriage can deliver.  From honey moon rapture to the birth of grandchildren, we have thrilled to the most exhilarating moments two people can experience together.  From horrific, white hot anger shouting matches, to standing horrified beside a grandchild’s grave, we have lived through the most painful events two people can share.

Recently Cindy and I celebrated our 31^st anniversary and, typically, I’m reflecting on what I’ve learned (actually what I’m still trying to learn) in over three decades of marriage.  I thought I might share a few of those thoughts with you.

1.  Marriage is complicated, frustrating, at times infuriating and hopelessly beyond ever figuring out or “getting right.”

Cindy and I used to go to marriage seminars designed to teach us how to “get marriage right.”  Normally the leaders of said seminars claimed to be able to accomplish this feat in just one weekend, during which they would teach us the “seven simple steps to a serene marriage,” or some such nonsense.  Mostly what I learned at those seminars is that the people who lead them are either disillusioned or deceitful.  There’s really no room for a third option. 

First of all, including the weekends we spent at those seminars, Cindy and I have invested somewhere around 1,612 weekends, plus all the days in between, trying to learn how to have a “serene” marriage.  We’re not quite there yet!  At various times, various “S” words have been used to describe our marriage, but I don’t think “serene” has ever been one of them (except maybe when we were both taking naps).

Secondly, there are way more than seven steps.  To my amazement, and chagrin, I have decided that there must be several million steps.  To make things even more complicated, the steps are constantly changing.  I’m being completely serious now!  The steps that worked yesterday somehow don’t work today.  Overnight they completely lost their effectiveness.  It’s truly fascinating!

2.  Marriage is, out of all God’s beautiful, miraculous, breath taking and wonderful creations, possibly the most beautiful, miraculous, breath taking and wonderful.

I find the passage in Genesis fascinating; the one that says that God brought the man and woman together and they became one flesh… and they were naked without shame. (Genesis 2:22-25)  I like all of that description, including the naked part.  There is simply nothing more impressive about God’s creative endeavor than that. 

Over the years I’ve realized that being naked is about more than “getting naked” (not that the “getting naked” part is not really good too).  I’ve learned that being naked and unashamed is also about knowing another human being so intimately that there is simply nothing left to hide. 

I think Cindy is the only person on the face of the earth that pretty much knows my every flaw, fear and fantasy.  She is the only human from whom I’m not hiding at least part of myself.  With her I can be exposed without terror, without fear of rejection or disgust.  (Sometimes there’s a little bit of disgust when I clip my toenails and leave them on the night stand.)

In short, God was bringing his “A” game the day he dreamed up marriage! 

3.  Marriage is constantly changing, forever evolving and endlessly reborn, because both partners are changing, evolving and being reborn.

Here’s the understatement of a lifetime.  I’m not the same person I was when I verbalized marriage vows.  The 19 year old (that’s right) who stood beside my young bride that June afternoon in 1982 no longer exists.  I’m not him.  He’s not me.  In fact, in most ways, we are totally opposite from one another.

Similarly, Cindy is not the same person she was when we became husband and wife.  She is even more beautiful now than she was then, and not only physically.  In the most fundamental ways that make us who we are, she is a different person.   

Here’s the amazing – I would say miraculous – thing.  Those two people who fell in love and got married, who then changed and became two totally different people, are somehow still “compatible.”  And we didn’t even have eharmony!

Sometimes people think about giving up on marriage, some for really good reasons.  But I think sometimes people project onto marriage some kind of Hollywood image that’s simply not accurate.  Marriage is almost never what you expected it to be.  It’s almost always  more… and less than you expected.

Here’s what I would argue.  Marriage is just too big of a deal, too hard, too valuable, too impossible to entrust into the hands of the two people that are in it together.  I would argue that it takes a third person… God! 

That’s one thing I’m pretty sure I’ve learned in 31 years of marriage.