On the March 21, 2009 Battle Lines broadcast we talked about the coming evangelical collapse. Our discussion revolved around an article by the same title written by Michael Spenser posted on the Christian Science Monitor website. You can read the article yourself on www.csmonitor.com. Spencer’s projection is that, within 10 years, we will see “a major collapse of evangelical Christianity.” Evangelicalism is a broad category of Christians connected by two things: the basics of Protestant doctrine and an emphasis on evangelism . Evangelicals come from a wide range of denominations, including Baptists, Pentecostals, Lutherans and Presbyterians. Most of the large, well-known churches in the Detroit area are evangelical: Woodside, Northridge, Kensington. Bloomfield Hills Baptist is evangelical. Spencer believes that our way of doing church will soon come to an end. And on some points, we agree. According to Spencer, “within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half of its occupants.” Marginal Christians will leave the evangelical church. Small, dying churches will close their doors. Denominations will shrink and vanish. And “fewer and fewer evangelical churches will survive.” Spencer identifies several reasons for this coming collapse.

First, evangelicalism has identified itself with political conservatism.

The problem is not that we have a voice in politics, but that we have become identified, equated, with the conservative movement within the Republican Party. We agree with Spencer: “Being against gay marriage… will not make up for the fact that massive majorities of Evangelicals can’t articulate the Gospel with any coherence. We fell for the trap of believing in a cause more than a faith.” We ought to stand outside of politics and speak into it. We ought not be uninvolved in it, but neither should we take sides based on political party. We ought to be above the political fray, speaking truth into it. Because we believe that what truly changes people, and therefore culture, is not a ballot proposal but the truth of Jesus.

Second, evangelicals have failed to pass on to our youth an orthodox faith.

Our ministry to youth has emphasized, self, felt-needs, and experience. In all the music, media, and activity the truth has gotten lost. We entertain our kids instead of teaching them. “Ironically, the billions of dollars we’ve spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it.”

Third, there are only three kinds of evangelical churches today: consumer-driven megachurches, small, dying churches, and fragile, new churches.

Here, we slightly disagree with Spencer. Not every large church is consumer-driven. Not every small church is dying. Nor is the consumer mentality limited to megachurches. Even people in small churches fight over what kind of music to use in worship.

Fourth, Christian education has not equipped young adults to engage the culture.

Christian colleges have not trained businessmen to impact the business world. Seminaries have not trained domestic missionaries. Christian young adults are not out there being salt and light. “Evangelicalism has used its educational system to primarily staff its own needs and talk to itself.”

And fifth, there is, in the realm of social outreach, an approaching confrontation between secularism and the Christian faith.

Christians will be serving the poor and hurting but, because of the faith behind our efforts, the “good Evangelicals want to do will be viewed as bad.” Our culture will resist our efforts to do good because it rejects our faith. For these reasons Spencer believes the Evangelicalism will soon “need a funeral.” But, “despite all these challenges, it is impossible not to be hopeful. As one commenter has said, ‘Christianity loves a crumbling empire.’” We believe that, though our way of doing church may come to an end, the Church will endure. The Gospel will continue to be proclaimed. The Spirit will continue to work. And God’s people will continue to be the Body of Christ. And, perhaps because of the coming evangelical collapse, we will be more effective as salt and light in a dark and decaying world. (Spenser’s article can be found at http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0310/p09s01-coop.htm).