Out of the Ashes

Could better days be ahead for US Evangelicalism?

Last year I was conversing via Zoom with the editor of a very large religious publication. He is Catholic but was interested in developments with Evangelical missions. I was pitching an article about the ongoing deconstruction of missions, which he passed on (it might be printed in a different form in another journal). As we discussed this topic, he said something to me which has made me think. He asked me this question:

Why do you Evangelicals think you have to own the culture in order to grow? Catholic history shows that a movement might have its best days in an era of declining cultural influence.

Great question and something we must consider.

Let’s admit it. US Evangelicalism isn’t losing cultural influence - it has already lost it. The recent election is but one example. Trump won, but he did so without any pandering to Evangelicals. In fact, he realized that Evangelicals were going to support him regardless of his position on abortion. Ever since Reagan post-election analysis was all about the Evangelical vote. I have yet to hear a single pundit opine about the Evangelical vote this time around. We have become irrelevant.

To be fair, I do think that Trump’s administration will be largely beneficial to freedom of religion and speech - two rights fundamental to the “free flow” of the gospel. This post is not a pro/con treatment of Trump, though. This is about our larger US culture. Politicians don’t only make cultural change. They reflect it. You can only lead in a democracy so long as you appease the majority. The Democrats forgot this little truth and are paying the price. They will adjust and fast. That is what politicians do. Our politicians are reflecting a disregard for Christianity.

Consider that pretty much all Christian vices are now mainstream. The worst of sins, pride, gets a whole month of celebration. Gambling is mainstream. I like watching football but now that means I get a constant stream of gambling ads. Barstool Republicans have taken over from Bible Belt Republicans. Our language is vulgar. I just opened up my pantry door today and saw a gift from friends. It is a meat tenderizer called “Chicken Shit.” The company that produces it has a rooster as its logo and it is called, “Big Cock Ranch.” Church attendance is in decline and theological schools are shutting down one after another. There is no significant Evangelical leader that we agree represents the majority of us. Aaron Renn’s negative world paradigm largely resonates with Evangelicals.

This might be just what we need to see a resurgent missionary movement from the US. Giving, sending, praying, teaching, preaching and advocating for the unreached. Loss can provide an avenue for re-imagining (might I use the word “innovating?”) a better future. Consider three spiritual revolutions that came from loss: Jesus, Augustine, and the Reformation.

Jesus taught that, “unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). This is a self-referential statement about himself being crucified. When Joseph of Arimathea lowered Jesus’ body down, the movement was over. The disciples began to scatter, denying involvement with Jesus in anguish about what might have been, but now could not be. The Pharisees had gotten their way. The Romans had crushed another rebellion. There was grief and loss. Yet, it was the finality of his death that made the resurrection so incredible.

The loss of Rome to barbarians led Augustine to highlight the differences between a City of Man and a City of God. Christians of Augustine’s day saw Rome as the New Kingdom. The highest priest in the land made his home there. The church, allied with the Roman Empire, had no competitors. Then came the hordes. They began biting off chunks of this Empire. During Augustine’s time the fall was not complete, but the shift was obvious and evident to all. A new spiritual understanding was needed, closer to what Jesus actually intended. Augustine helped the church to unmoor itself from the Roman Empire, arguing that the Kingdom was never meant to be earthly, temporal, and stained by human sin.

Luther saw grace in the abject corruption of a hollowed out medieval church. It was the despair of Luther’s heart, driving him to do what he otherwise would not do. At first, he hoped only for reform but Europe was ripe for more than that. He lit the spark, and from these ashes the phoenix of Protestantism rose.

Various models are being suggested for a way forward. The Benedictine Option by Dreher, Doug Wilson’s more muscular “takeover” of Moscow, ID (“move here and join us”), and now we have the “enchantment” crowd (again, Dreher, but with help from others) suggesting that a more mystical Christianity is the solution. For my part, I stand with the more classic Evangelical position that renewal is primarily personal. Yes, I have read James Davison Hunter and I don’t disparage the need for institutional reform, but discipleship is more important than ever in our diminished cultural position.

The thin discipleship of the US church cries out for something deeper, richer, and more spiritually infused. If we can, like the Christians of Augustine’s day, see that the Kingdom is not earthly but heavenly, we may experience a “Greater Awakening,” than any American has yet experienced.

Minority religions often punch above their weight class. The early Reformers were in the minority. The Mormons are a minority religion. Jews make us 0.2% of the world’s population, yet the influence of Abraham on the world’s spirituality is immense, even to this day. How does happen? What can we learn from historical examples? How does external pressure lead to internal reform? Where will our innovators come from?

So many great questions for us to be considering.

Our best days might be ahead of us.