Evangelicalism is once again a popular topic in newspapers, on TV, on the radio and on the various Internet-based media sites. The concern is no longer with Evangelicalism’s size and influence but with the potential for the movement to collapse. Michael Spencer, writing in The Christian Science Monitor, argued that Evangelicalism will follow the decline witnessed by mainline Protestants, which started in the 1960s and continues to this day.
Spencer writes, “Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline…But the end of Evangelicalism as we know it is close.”
Dean M. Kelley, in his seminal book, “Why Conservative Churches Are Growing,” argued that mainline churches suffered their decline as a result of weakening their adherence to time-honored beliefs.
When a church or a movement loses its belief system and can no longer offer its members something that only the church or movement can provide, then its followers fall away or find another manner to meet their specific needs. There were a host of other reasons why mainline churches suffered their losses—demographics, birth rates among members, etc.—but the movement’s loss of its unique belief structure was paramount to its decline.
For Evangelicalism, the problem is less serious and based more upon a redirection of priorities. The early 1970s witnessed the rise of what we have come to call the Religious Right or Christian conservative movement. Evangelicals began to become active in politics again after a 50-year hiatus that dated back to the Scopes trial in 1925.
And for the next 40 years, Evangelicals became increasingly involved in politics and began to see their faith more intertwined with political action.
What is happening now is a reassessment of the political strategy. Evangelicals tend to be more aligned with conservative politics and so when conservative candidates suffer huge losses—like they did last fall—it’s normal for many to reassess the movement, and even for some to predict its demise.
The point some people are missing, including Michael Spencer, is that Evangelicalism is a much broader and deeper movement than just the political component. While politics has played an increasingly significant role in the movement, particularly since the 1970s, it in no way accurately and exhaustively defines Evangelicals.
Evangelicalism, more than anything else, is defined by its commitment to Christ and the importance of a personal relationship with Him. As long as that remains the central component to the movement, the talk of its demise is much exaggerated.
Evangelicalism is certainly not dead. From non-profit organizations fighting poverty and homelessness, to para-church ministries giving voice to the voiceless, to ministries working for just public policy, to Christian schools training up the next generation, to small, medium and large churches reaching the lost, discipling the newly saved, and walking with those on the verge of their eternal journeys—Evangelicalism is far from death.
