The Heirs of Evangelicalism

After reading Internet Monk Michael Spencer’s post “The Coming Evangelical Collapse,” I read Part 2, “What will be left?” today.

Michael’s predictions:
1. An evangelicalism far from its historical and doctrinal core, which has exchanged the success model of pragmatism, therapy, and church growth methodologies for doctrine.
2. An evangelicalized Catholicism and Orthodoxy.
3. A remaining portion (I’m NOT saying faithful remnant) who will continue toward theological reconstruction and recovery, which could move toward historic “Mere Christianity” or a resurgent reformation.
4. The disappearance of the emerging church from the evangelical landscape.
5. The disappearance of evangelistic fundamentalist churches, leaving only museum pieces.
6. Perhaps a revived evangelicalism in what is now known as the foreign mission field.

My observations:

I think Michael is spot on with #1. Consumerist Evangelicalism will continue to grow bigger, slicker, more aggressively marketed religious shopping malls because that is what Americans know how to do. The rise of methodology over doctrine and the loss of a robust supernaturalism are already well along. So we will see a lot of gargantuan consumerist churches dotting the landscape. Joel Osteen will continue to rake in the dough.

Number 2 is a healthy development – in my Masters thesis I marveled at the missionary vitality and acumen of the Eastern Church of the first millennium, whose history records a missiology as advanced as the modern missionary movement (albeit with some of the same problems as well). The Church of the East may yet look up from its eucharistic contemplations and step forth into the world again. Evangelical dialogue with Rome and the East will increase in frequency and resonance. Evangelical conversion to Rome and the East will probably also increase, as seekers look past the glitz and bling of the consumerist churches in search of spiritual reality.

There are already signs of Number 3 – witness the tensions between resurgent, robust evangelical networks like Acts 29 and traditional evangelical groups like the Missouri Baptist Convention. These tensions are, I think, healthy. I’m also encouraged by the alliance between absolutely doctrinally solid Christians like Tim Keller, Don Carson, C.J. Mahaney and others like them with the resurgent networks.

On numbers 4 and 5 I can only sadly agree about the emergents, some of whom have already thrown out the doctrinal baby with the bathwater. The evangelistic fundamentalists have not only become sterile, but have largely adopted a policy of veritable filicide toward their young people. As Ed Marcelle of Terra Nova has observed, “they will likely be able to continue to exist only by putting up velvet ropes and selling tickets to Japanese tourists.” (paraphrased from memory – apologies if I got the wording wrong.)

The sixth prediction is already becoming established fact: evangelicalism is growing in a robust fashion in the developing world, and we may see the West become a mission field for the churches there. Older evangelicals will not accept the leadership of immigrants, especially people of color, but younger Christians won’t have any problem with it. This is a hopeful sign.

Now let me go a bit further – what will the shape of the surviving churches be like after the evangelical collapse has unfolded?

1. They will likely be more charismatic than the current evangelical mainstream, manifesting a robust supernaturalism.
2. Doctrinally they will be more grounded and connected with historic Christianity than the current charismatic mainstream, but less exclusivistic than traditional pentecostals.
3. The new churches will show manifest and practical concern for social justice.
4. These churches will be Green. Concern for the environment will become a mainstream Christian value rather than cause for suspicion as it is with many evangelicals now.
5. Politically the church will be courted and shunned from both sides – liberals will find the heirs of evangelicalism too conservative, and conservatives will suspect them of being too liberal.
6. The heirs of evangelicalism will probably embrace mainstream scientific thought. It will not be thought unusual for Christians to accept Inflationary (Big Bang) cosmology initiated by God, and church leaders will increasingly see no inherent conflict between biological evolution under the providence of God and commitment to the authority and infallibility of Scripture, but not necessarily a literalistic hermeneutic.

Because the term has already acquired too much baggage I’m reticent to use the term “post-evangelical.” It’s already associated with a specific school of thought. It sounds too negative to call those who remain committed to historic Christianity after the collapse of evangelicalism (with which thesis I sadly agree) leftovers, and too sanctimonious to use the word remnant. So I’m left with “heirs of evangelicalism.” It means those who have inherited much from and respect forebears, but nevertheless acknowledges that the baton has been passed, that a new chapter has begun in the pageant of Redemption Jesus has invited us to join as his fellow workers and incarnational presence.