These past two days I’ve kind of stumbled into doing a two-part series by loosely tying together some aspects of the Christian faith under “evangelism” – so I may as well finish it off with a part three.
The main point of my first piece was a current trend toward the lack of a common definition of “morality” and thus the difficulty in pointing to Christ by appealing to a need of correction from sin. In part two I found a decent example of the disconnect between the secular and Christian views (through an example of the “inoculation” I spoke of in part one).
Part three then arises from a podcast discussion to which I listened yesterday between Alisa Childers and Costi Hinn. About halfway through, Hinn drew some lines in today’s culture – lines that made sense to me. I’d long seen the rise of the “nones” (those who, when surveyed, claimed no religious affiliation at all) not as the death knell of the Church, but rather as a clarity coming to what it means to be Christian. Day-by-day as Christian positions on issues fall into disfavor with the culture, more people are leaving the Church. While before it used to be a necessity to “belong,” it has now, in the eyes of many, become a liability. So it would be natural to see a drop in the numbers of those who claim the Christian faith. When it actually costs something to be a Christian, the hangers-on for community status will leave in droves.
And that’s a good thing for the Church. It eliminates those who never really cared for Jesus in the first place. It is because of this that I believe firmly what will come out of this cultural upheaval will be a Church that is stronger than ever in the foundational faith.
And Hinn pretty much goes there. He says (paraphrased), “There’s no more ‘shallow end’ of the pool for churches” (that is, the seeker-sensitive megachurch that is content simply to get people in the door, but who avoid going deep in their teachings). People want meat, not milk. They don’t need the megachurch model for that — they need a church that teaches truth, and they’re willing to explore and question that truth in a meaningful way. Along with that, Hinn sees an ultimate decline in entrepreneurial Christianity – the “faith” in which people engage for profit.
The lines are indeed drawn. But not between your typical left and right. Not between “Trump voters” (who, by the way, are in it as much for profit (in the form of political power) as the entrepreneurs) and liberal progressives. In reality, the lines are drawn between those who are content with the world — some even while sitting in the church pew — and those who want to hear the sometimes brutal truth of the Gospel. These are people who know there’s something wrong, and are sick of the superficial band-aide solutions that the shallow church is offering. The ones who figure if they want a feel-good concert with a feel-good chit-chat from a guy on a stage, they might as well go off and find some motivational speaker somewhere. This kind of person comes from all points of the spectrum.
So while numbers dwindle, the core of orthodox, Bible-based (not Bible-belt) Christianity could be coming on stronger than ever. The issues are stark and staring us in the face, and getting a once-a-week pep-rally just isn’t doing it anymore in explaining our reality.
Now, how can I tie this into evangelism? It’s as simple as the method itself – bring people to the overarching story of the Bible. The story of creation, fall, redemption, and glory that we find in the Gospel. And despite my observation a couple of days ago that we’re defining our moralities differently, Ray Comfort is onto something too when he points to lying, stealing, and adultery as wrong. We might have some who will bend over backwards to justify their actions and the actions of those they follow (think “January 6th”), but they cannot escape the ground truth. God has still placed a conscience within us that deep-down tells us all the difference. And as bad as we can be, there’s a hammer that will soften the most stubborn heart.
The very hammer they’re looking for.
