An Evangelical Crisis

The evangelical church of today is in a crisis – in reality, an identity crisis. The church does not know what it is, what it is to stand for or even what it believes. I recently spoke with someone concerning a “ministry” outside the church. As this person shared with me the mission of this non-church ministry, distinctively Christian terms like “outreach”, “fellowship”, “faith-based”, “evangelistic”, and “gospel” were used. But when asked for a definition of what these terms meant and how they were biblically carried out, the answers were greatly lacking and most disturbing. For example, when I asked about the presentation of the gospel, the answer was that the gospel is simply telling individuals that God loves them and wants them to change their lives. The implication of this is that it might well be within a person’s own ability to turn his or her life around and live in the love of God - that all God wants from a person is somekind our outward personal reform. Additionally, (and most disturbing), I was told that both Catholics and Evangelicals communicate the same gospel. The last time I checked, Catholicism was not teaching salvation was through grace alone, by Christ alone, through faith alone. The problem – the evangelical church and its individual members do not know what the Church is, what faith is or even what the gospel is.

To the very disregard for the Word of God, the evangelical church has so watered down the gospel – the Biblical presentation of man’s need for salvation from sin by the work of Christ - to be nothing more than some magical therapy to help those with poor self-images and emotional hang-ups to begin to finally feel good about themselves. And this approach seems to be working. For the theory goes, that since everyone has some kind of hang-up, then everyone needs Christ, at least to some degree or another. Therefore the gospel of restoring poor self-images is appealing to the masses. But rather than the gospel being seen as redeeming us for God, the gospel is viewed as that which we might use to redeem us for ourselves. God is seen as having provided through His Son Jesus Christ a way for us pursue and sustain our own ambitions and lifestyles.

To this end then, the church has become more and more man-centered rather than God-centered. While we in our circles may initially cringe at the term man-centered, remember that there are some “good” things which a church can do being man-centered. The church is to be concerned about one another and for fellow man. The problem is that the church has come to see this as her primary motivation for ministry and therefore pursue activities and ministries that neglect God-centeredness. The emphasis of so much of the evangelical church’s ministries is focused on things like personal comfort, enjoyment, fun, and excitement. More concern is place upon the physical and emotional well being of a person than upon one's own spiritual life. True holiness and godliness is squeezed into the equation almost a "necessary evil." The problem again is that while many of the activities and ministries of a church may be “good” – being man-centered and man-driven, they will invariably succumb to the ugliness of man’s depravity, squeezing God and His Word out little by little and more and more. A man-centered gospel, promising comfort, enjoyment and personal well-being makes it acceptable to be a Christian. A gospel that forces a person to see themselves as depraved sinners in need of the mercy of God even to look to God, that forces a person to make tough choices between satisfying the flesh or serving the living God is far less appealing.

We had better make sure we know the biblcal content of the gospel and seek to present it in the fulness that God had inteneded. May our desire be the same as the Apostle Paul -

Acts 20:27
For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. (NKJV)

Soli Deo Gloria,

Pastor Ed