Up till now, I have been hesitant to speak about what I believe will happen to the Evangelical movement. Evangelicals are all of those who believe in certain essentials among the most important is the belief that salvation is by faith alone. I often refer them to as the Church. I have been a Christian for over 20 years and have seen the evangelical church progress (or regress) to a state where I believe that it will be irrelevant. The more I visit churches, talk to supposed Christians and study the trend I have become more convinced that the Church or Evangelicals will fade away in the vast sea of our culture. Church members are almost indistinguishable from those outside the church in their daily living. Many confess to be Christians but in reality there is no essential difference. They are ignorant of their beliefs (see Barna’s Report here) and are unable to explain why they believe what they believe. Churches no longer teach; they entertain. They teach pop psychology. They make you feel good but that is about it. And those churches that do have solid teaching have become fat. They have become dogmatic, judgmental and isolated. Their beliefs will die with them because they haven’t learned how to confront the culture in a relevant way. Our young people are not being taught how to live out their faith in a post-modern society. The culture has become a powerful force influencing all of their lives and the Church does very little to counter act it. What is the future of Evangelicals? Today I read this article and found myself agreeing with Michael Spencer in almost everything he says. He writes: “I expect to see a vital and growing house church movement. This cannot help but be good for an evangelicalism that has made buildings, numbers, and paid staff its drugs for half a century.”
I also believe it is the Third World Church will bring a rebirth to America’s Christianity. Just like Michael Spencer, I’m not a prophet. I may be totally wrong. I really hope so.
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