Ten Trends Evangelicalism Could Do Without
Monday, December 1st, 2008 at
6:08 pm
Joe Carter of Culture11 and formerly of The Evangelical Outpost has compiled a list of the Ten Deadly Trappings of Evangelicalism. These are ten trends that Joe has identified that evangelicalism could just as well do without. All I can say is a hearty “Amen” to Joe’s remarks. Take time to read through each post as there is a lot of great food for thought.
#1 The Sinner’s Prayer and #2 Making Converts
#3 “Do You Know Jesus As….”
#4 Tribulationism and #5 Testimonies
#6 The Altar Call
#7 Witnessing and #8 Protestant Prayers
#9 The Church Growth Movement and #10 Chick Tracts
Tagged with: Christianity • Church • Evangelicalism • Evangelism
Filed under: Christianity • Culture • Tom
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Tom
I’m with you on most of these, but not on others, and I’d like to hear your opinion on them. Here are the ones I’m wondering about
2) Making converts – I’m not going to go look up a bunch of verses, but I aren’t there are many places where Jesus basically commands us to go out and spread the word? One may argue that you don’t make a nuisance out of yourself in that I think we’ve all heard the “stay away from Joe’s cubicle because he’ll preach the gospel to you.” But saying you shouldn’t make a nuisance of yourself is a bit different from “don’t convert.”
3) Protestant Prayers – I’m a protestant, and in my current church we don’t say the Lords Prayer, but I’ve been in churches that do. I don’t really see it as a big deal. One might argue that you shouldn’t make prayers into a rote exercise, but as long as you mix it up who cares whether someone wants to use the Lords prayer or not?
Thank you,
Tom
The prayer issue is not as big an issue for me either. I don’t think it matters whether you use the Lord’s Prayer or not.
The issue of making converts I do have more of an issue with in part because I think we’ve distorted the meaning of Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:16-20. He commanded us to make disciples which means developing followers not simply believers. Our mistake has been to focus to much on the belief and not enough in the following of Christ.
The “make converts” strain of Christianity has a lot to do with (I believe) the “Great Commission” – which is a common title given to the last few verses of Matt 28, but not part of the Bible. Matt 28:19 says:
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
This one passage has, for many evangelicals, been lifted as THE big command that we must heed, failing too often to recognize that Jesus gave many commands (Love your enemies, do unto the least of these, do not be like the religious hypocrites/pharisees, etc, etc) and that this final teaching is one of many that ought to be heeded.
Further, I have been told (I don’t read Greek so I don’t know for sure) that the verse is better translated, “Therefore, wherever you are going (or: as you are going along your daily life), make disciples of all nations, baptising and teaching them as well.”
This translation, then, gives us a less “zealous missionary” approach and changes the meaning a bit to the more casual (but equally serious), “as you go about your normal business, make disciples and teach people my teachings…” A translation that makes more sense and is more in fitting with the whole of the Bible and Jesus’ teachings, seems to me.
We could look at what the disciples did after being told that. Essentially, they went out and evangelized. You could look at Philip, who preached to crowds in Samaria and to the Ethopian in Acts 8. He didn’t stay around to disciple them, he led them to Christ. True, we shouldn’t just evangelize; growing in Christ is essential, and there are those fitted for that just as there are those that are fitted for (as the original article put it) “close the deal”. I’m not sure exactly what Joe’s railing against. If you want the harvest, you have to plant the seeds. But lifting up harvesting while denigrating seed planting seems ill-advised (if you indeed want a harvest).
Heck, after Philip “closed the deal” and baptized he Ethopian, God zoomed him elsewhere. No chance for discipleship from him at that moment.
And all through Acts prior to that, God was adding to their numbers daily, sometimes by the hundreds. This wasn’t just by the guys going back to fishing.
Here’s a link to Matthew 28 using Young’s literal translation. Yes, literal translations don’t pick up idioms, but none of the 13 translations there, nor the NIV (which isn’t listed) have anything close to suggesting that this only pertains to just as you go about in your daily life.
Jesus said they were going to the ends of the earth. Was that going about their normal business?
Thank you everyone for your responses. All are instructive and useful.
Tom, can you please explain further your distinction between “followers” and “believers”?
Also, can you explain what you mean when you say “Our mistake has been to focus to much on the belief and not enough in the following of Christ.” ?
Dan – Fair points, especially about a zealous vs casual approach. Agreed that some evangelicals get far too carried away.
Doug – I agree. The disciples – apostles at that point – didn’t just go back to fishing. They dedicated their lives to spreading the word.
Thanks to all!
Tom,
Great questions. What I meant was that some churches have focused too much on evangelism that there is no discipleship. They are full of people who say they are Christians but have not lived as if their faith in Christ has made any difference. They haven’t incorporated a biblical worldview into their lives. What I have seen is some churches become so focused on evangelism having people walk the aisle and make a profession of faith and then immediately put folks to work in the church before they have had a chance to mature in their faith.
Hope that helps.
Ok, that makes sense, and I largely agree. Thank you for the response.