What Does American Evangelicalism Believe?

The title is not a trick question.  What do evangelicals believe?  Can we nail this down?  Some might point to the multi-volume The Fundamentals edited by A. C. Dixon and later by R. A. Torrey.  The 90 essays contained therein provide a thorough understanding of Scripture in early twentieth-century evangelicalism, but can we consider the work to be accurate today?  What about a pared-down list similar to those found on websites or the following list of essentials by Matt Slick at CARM:

Primary*	Secondary*
Deity of Christ Salvation by Grace Resurrection of Christ The Gospel Monotheism	Jesus is the only way to salvation Jesus’ Virgin Birth Doctrine of the Trinity

With these essentials in hand, are we any closer to determining what American evangelicals actually believe?  I have often quipped that the belief system of any local assembly can be reduced to a mathematical function: f(x) = x + 1.  In other words, for any number (x) of congregants, there is x+1 number of belief systems or opinions.  And if they actually compare notes with one another, the number grows exponentially: f(x) = (x+1)^y where y is the number of interactions.  Overt facetiousness aside, how accurate is this?

With the prevalence of postmodern thought in Christianity, personal belief systems have increasingly become the norm.  In October of this year, I referenced a recent article illustrating heretical beliefs held by self-professed evangelicals.  Believers have taken a pragmatic approach to doctrine that resonates with their current situation.  Individualized Christianity runs rampant.

Church leadership is not without fault.  In March of this year, in an examination of evangelical response to the presidential election, Marsha West of Berean Research summarized a series she wrote in 2011 with the following:

Several years ago I penned a piece that I hoped would help explain the downgrade in the Church. I thought supermarket shopping would be a clever way to paint a word picture. In my piece I pointed out that there’s a “diabolically inspired supermarket of truth and error in the postmodern Church.” So take a stroll with me, once again, up and down the aisles as we shop for the ingredients to make Syncretism Stew….

Aisle 1-Mysticism Madness;
Aisle 2-Charismatic Confusion;
Aisle 3-Pentecostal Pandemonium;
Aisle 4-Enlightened Emergents;
Aisle 5-Purpose-driven Pragmatism;
Aisle 6-Secular Strategies…to suck in seekers;
Aisle 7-Twelve-steps…to “group think”
Aisle 8-Preposterous Pop Psychology
Aisle 9-Discernment Disintegration
Aisle 10-Predatory Pastors.
On and on it goes.

And I added this reminder:

The Body of Christ trusts its Shepherds to feed them healthy nutritious foods, yet many of them are literally starving their sheep to death! A diet of “Bible Light” does not nourish the soul – it causes spiritual malnutrition! A shepherd’s job is to lead the flock in Christian life and faith. (Source)†

One byproduct of this shift has been an adherence to other or additional sacraments.  Within Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic systems, there are seven well-documented sacraments (baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, ordination, and matrimony).  Evangelicalism is known for two ordinances (baptism, the Eucharist), but in practice this has changed.  American Evangelicalism also has what have effectively become seven sacraments: praise & worship, decision, self-help, service, quiet time, small groups, and clean living.  Matthew Garnett at In Layman’s Terms introduced these some time back and rebroadcast them on his podcast of October 16 this year.  In a nutshell, Garnett helps us realize that though some of these things are not bad, they have become the metric by which spirituality is measured: if you are not actively involved in all these things to an arbitrary satisfactory degree, then you must not be spiritual.  You may not even be a Christian.  The only solution is a Protestant purgatory wherein well-meaning pastors and parishioners pound you with the Law into you fall in line with the group standard.  The result is that you become twice a son of the devil as they, shipwreck your faith, or cope by inventing your own spirituality—all commonplace occurrences.

Whatever initiated the maelstrom, it has continued largely unabated, dragging whomever comes close into the abyss.  There are multitudinous metaphors to help us understand that there is something solid on which we can depend—foundation, rock, anchor, tower, bulwark to name a few—promised by the only One with power and authority to save and keep—I Am, Ancient of Days, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  He Who promised is faithful.  What the Bible says, believe, teach, and do.

I cannot tell you how many times pastors and teachers have altered Bible quotations and definitions of Greek and Hebrew terms to fit their theology.  I cannot tell you how many times believers are confronted with Scripture and say they do not care.  Just stop.  Stop being relevant.  Stop being nuanced.  The solution is obvious yet must be constantly repeated.  Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, neither nonchalantly nor with glitz, glamor, and funk.  Pray for daily bread and daily forgiveness, not seed offerings and audacious faith.  Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, not the pastor’s vision and 10-year plan.  Make disciples by baptizing and teaching, not by bait and switch.

Maybe rightly dividing the Word of God and preaching Christ and Him crucified are out of vogue, but there is no other solution to our need.  It is the one given to us.  Teach and learn the creeds.  Teach and learn a catechism.‡  Stop sipping at the shallow rivulet of new and trendy, but instead imbibe at the deep waters of what has been tested and tried that we might run the race and finish the course, looking to the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.



*  I am uncomfortable with the primary/secondary designations he gives.  They can be misconstrued, and the latter three can be subsumed in the former.  However, he carefully defines his use of the terms.

†  I recommend reading that series: “Purpose Driven dismantling of Christianity” (part 1, part 2, part 3).

‡  I did not specify which catechism because of the diversity of my readership, but I gladly recommend both Luther’s Small and Large Catechisms.  You also would do well with the Heidelberg Catechism.

Heresy Is the New Orthodoxy

First Council of Nicaea

Christianity Today recently published the findings of a disturbing survey showing the abysmal condition of American evangelicalism.  While discerning Christians realize that CT regularly allows opinions from writers on the fringes of Christendom advocating questionable doctrine (thereby earning snarky publication names like Christianity Astray and Paganism Today), they do provide an outlet for trending data.

Reprising their ground-breaking study from two years ago, LifeWay Research and Ligonier Ministries released an update today on the state of American theology in 2016.  Researchers surveyed 3,000 adults to measure their agreement with a set of 47 statements about Christian theology—everything from the divinity of Christ to the nature of salvation to the importance of regular church attendance.

The article is worth reading.  To summarize, those claiming to be evangelical are as likely to follow heresy in different areas of doctrine as to historic orthodoxy.  That is disturbing.  We have a problem.  I do understand the scholarly feedback in the article that said much of the ignorance is due to new Christians not fully understanding the faith, but that should be a minority of the population surveyed, not 75%.

Based on what I have seen, the primary issue is that Christians are not being taught Christianity.  People are challenged to believe that Jesus can deal with their situation—even recognizing their own sin—but after being brought into the church, these same people are never pushed to understand what the faith they purport to follow entails.  Leaders of churches, publishing houses, and parachurch organizations openly promote moralism and mysticism instead of doctrine.  Why?  Because people want a way to feel good about their relationship with God and others, so pastors and publishers give that to them.  The emphasis has turned from spiritual growth to behavioral modification and emotional salve, and if people want to aid the organization financially, so much the better.

There was a day (and still is in some sectors) when people were catechized between one and three years, depending on the assembly, before being allowed into full communion.  Now, we might attend a new member class for a couple hours (if at all), then give an affirmation of a mission statement in order to gain all the rights and responsibilities of membership.  Afterward, all the teaching they receive is a steady diet of euphemisms.  Shame on us for allowing that to happen.  Can this trend be reversed?  Yes, but do we want to?  As long as there are pastors and teachers drawing people to themselves instead of to Christ, the emphasis will remain centered on tactics to entice people to whichever personality best promotes the image desired.

We have the divine mandate and the tools to turn the tide, so there is no excuse.  What we lack is the will.  Pastors are to lead the flock to good pasture.  Teachers are to teach.  We are not called to make Scripture palatable.  We are to deliver a divinely delivered curriculum—all that Jesus commanded us.  Anything less will not do.

[Prepublication update] After I scheduled this to post, Matthew Block posted his own thoughts on the same survey at First Things.  He has mentioned the need to recognize how God worked the historic faith in creeds, confessions, and dedication to Scripture.  I recommend that you read his thoughts as well.

Repeating History?

Thom Rainer has written an article included in the April 2014 edition of The American Church Magazine entitled “14 Predictions for American Churches for 2014.”  Here are those predictions:

1. Increased church acquisitions – small churches seeking to be acquired by larger.
2. Downsizing of denominational structures.
3. Decline in conversion growth.
4. More mega-churches.
5. Greater number of churches moving to a unified worship style – fewer offering two service styles (i.e., one traditional and one contemporary).
6. Increased emphasis on high-expectation church membership.
7. Increased challenges for congregations to build and acquire land due to restrictive governmental policies.
8. More large churches will function like mini-denominations.
9. New worship centers will be built smaller.
10. Increased emphasis on small groups.
11. Longer pastoral tenure.
12. Local churches increasing their roles as ministry training leaders.
13. Church movement to the community.
14. More multiple teaching/preaching pastors.

Upon reviewing the list, I summarize it like this: American Evangelicalism is jettisoning the Church Growth model in order to embrace a pre-medievel (ca. sixth century) model.  Instead of Rome, Carthage, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Constantinople as the centers of Christianity, we will have East Texas, Georgia, Southern California, Southern Florida, and Suburban Chicago.  Effort will be made in each of these new “bishoprics” to “reach across the aisle” within their regions and attempt to bring unity to the American church.  Conclaves of sorts will be developed with recommendations for church governance and practice.  These recommendations will be enforced in strict measure that attendance and unity may continue.  Eventually, one center will assert its prominence or preëminence (or both) as the only rightful seat of authority.  You can guess the outcome.  And what will get left out of all this?  Right doctrine.

Feel free to disagree with this assessment, but I am still left wondering why the American church wants to revisit this trajectory.  After battling the heretics and schisms for the first few centuries, the Church thought it had matters in hand, then it started to believe in itself rather than its Creator, and set itself as head rather than looking to its true Head.  History repeats itself, and it can certainly do so with a different look and feel.  I enjoy reviewing the historical church to see how things worked, where we might be off course, and where we are improved.  Paul’s first epistle to Corinth was a litany of issues and errors that needed correction, not a commendation for their ingenuity.  Use mistakes of the past as examples to be avoided, not emulated.

Evangelicalism Minimizes the Evangel

One of the saddest ironies in American Evangelicalism today is how strongly its leaders profess that the Bible is the very word of God—inspired, inerrant and infallible—yet how little of the Bible they actually preach or teach.  I suspect that a major cause of biblical illiteracy among American Christians is that the Bible has been replaced in America’s pulpits with popular topics and church programs.  Sometimes it seems that Evangelicals can hear anything but the Bible in church.

Todd Wilken, Issues, Etc. Journal, Fall 2011

Evangelicalism's Fads and Fixtures

Fads come and go.  But when a fad overstays its welcome it becomes codified, institutionalized,and otherwise immortalized.  Joe Carter at First Things has written a piece that points out how far evangelicals have taken some extra-biblical fads that should have died a natural death but were accepted as dogma.  And may I say as an acknowledged evangelical, how correct he is in most of what he shares.