The (Now Here) Evangelical Crisis

During the time of my first church plant in another state, we had a statewide meeting of church planters during which a representative of the North American Mission Board provided us with some software that would help us with the administration of our churches. The software included membership tracking, time management helps, etc.

But also included in the software was a collection of sermons.

The representative explained (I'm paraphrasing): "As church planters you know you are busy doing the work of church planting and have no time to prepare sermons. So I have included sermons here for you to use."

How many of my fellow planters utilized this gift I'm not sure.

During my second church plant in the same state, I was attempting to discuss a theological question with a fellow planter and he refused to engage me in the question explaining "I don't read. I hate to read. My giftedness is more in evangelism than teaching."

These experiences and many more (i.e., I once had a pastor who was celebrated within our state convention for his many baptisms tell me about an upcoming baptism service they were conducting. With a smile on his face he told me: "We have 11 baptisms scheduled, but we'll see how many of them actually show up...you know how that is")caused me to lament the state of the church and to temper my confidence in this new found excitement centering on church growth through church planting. Church plants are great only in as far as they are actually teaching and modeling true Christianity. Let me repeat that so as not to mis-interpreted. Church plants are great. But they are great only if they are teaching the truth. Now, there are many which do teach the truth, but, let's be honest, there are many which don't. This leads me take all the church planting/church growth stats with a grain of salt.

Over at the website "Never Thirsty," they warn of this situation by reminding readers of a book written in 1996 called "The Coming Evangelical Crisis" writing:

"They (the authors of the book) warn that the teaching of the Bible is being minimized in order to please people, increase church attendance, and obtain larger followings. The goal for some is no longer the honor of God and the spiritual education of those who are in Jesus Christ. As a result, those who seek to know God and to follow Him are being taught simplistic, basic, sugar-coated spiritual truths devoid of meat and substance. As a result of weak preaching and teaching of the Bible - the book of truth - doctrinal error is rapidly increasing. The alarm rang loudly and clearly throughout the book and it still resounds today."

The alarm does indeed need to resound today for the consequences are dire.

Michael Horton says ". . . Apostasy begins harmlessly enough. First, we are told that we do not need creeds, confessions, and catechisms . . . The result is that the Scriptures go before long. Next, we are asked to tone down on our doctrinal distinctives and emphasize that which unites all religious people of goodwill. The result is the rejection of the gospel. Finally, we are told, “All we need is Jesus,” and we are left with a moral crusader. ( p. 260)

The "Never Thirsty" writer closes with an anecdote that I have personally experienced during several visits at Capitol Hill and which was the cause of a personal revival in my own faith in the church at a time when I was beginning to lose hope:

"The September 2006 issue of Christianity Today has a feature article titled, “Young, Restless, Reformed” by Collin Hansen. Collin indicates that a number of churches scattered across the United States are emphasizing the sound, solid teaching of the Bible. The churches have many young adults in their twenties and early thirties. One such church is Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C. The pastor is Mark Dever. Collin visited the church and describes what he experienced,

I visited Capitol Hill Baptist in January. The church kicked off with Sunday school, which really should have been called Sunday seminary. Class options included a survey of the New Testament, spiritual disciplines, and a systematic theology lesson on theories of the Atonement. (Hansen, Collin. Young, Restless, Reformed. “Christianity Today.” Sept.. 2006. p. 38)

Collin explains that the pastor is serious in his study and teaching of the scriptures. The pastor’s sermons are 55 minutes long. Hymns are emphasized, and the church is packed out with the under 30 crowd. This story is being repeated in key parts around the United States. But it is the under-30 crowd that appears to be interested. The thrust of Collin’s article is that the new emerging under 30 crowd wants to know the Bible and doctrine. They are serious. They are hungry for truth - the Word of God. They are hungry for God. They want to know about God."

Amen.

I am blessed to be pastoring a church plant and have found that this same hunger is alive and well down here in Blacksburg, VA. I see it has my duty as a minister to feed that hunger to the best of my ability and I pray that other pastors will join me in that endeavor for the sake of their congregations and for the sake of Christ's church.