American evangelical history has been, it seems largely, driven by revival events. Whether Wesleyan, Moody, fundamentalist, or the Jesus movement, it seems that our culture has run on a roughly 40-year cycle of events. Moody, 1890ish; fundamentalists, 1930ish; Jesus movement, 1970ish. Then there are the small-event, the miniscule revivalists. These are the ones who have evangelistic parties instead of crusades and tents. Campus Crusade. Young Life. Roll your own.
I used to think that there was a revival due us. Unless one is willing to consider that the Purpose Driven movement was some sort of revival, I was quite mistaken. The fact that none has come has me worried. But I am not worried about when it will come. Rather, I am worried about the character of our evangelical Christianity.
There is no forthcoming coming revival. I was wrong.
The liberals are shrinking yet we sit and act smug because we are stagnant instead of shrinking.
American Christianity seems dead. No, it is not dead because of doctrine. We have so much good theology available that one might think this was the birthplace of Christianity. It is not about generosity or character. Our social involvement and willingness to meet the needs of the world around us is unmatched in human history. It is not necessarily about sin in the church. There is a lot of it and we often fail to deal with our secret sins. But Corinth had the same issues yet saw the blessing of God. American Christianity is not dead because it has no heart. While Rome cannot provide a decent salvation doctrine and evangelicals and fundamentalists are all split up doing their own things, all are yet fully engaged in their own outreach endeavors.
Perhaps is it only our unmitigated arrogance.
I fear that Josh McDowell is on the right track. This may be America’s last Christian generation, at least for a long time. All we seem to have done is postpone our acknowledgment of judgment.
Does anyone besides me think that American Christianity is in real trouble?
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