“The coming evangelical collapse,” a recent bombshell article in the Christian Science Monitor, has stirred fundamental Christians in a way that nothing has for a long time. The author, Michael Spencer, points to the increasing secularization of Christian positions and dogma as the underlying reason for this major shift in the religious world. He believes that succumbing to the pressure within denominations and churches to buy into the cultural agenda has driven the final nail in the coffin. He says, “Evangelicalism doesn’t need a bailout. Much of it needs a funeral.”
Those of us who adhere to basic Bible beliefs have chronicled the liberal trend in mainline Christianity for decades. What we didn’t necessarily see was that the trend couldn’t last forever. Eventually, a tipping point had to be reached. Now, it can be seen with greater clarity than ever. The landscape of traditional Christianity is about to undergo vast changes. Spencer says, “This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good. Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline. I’m convinced the grace and mission of God will reach to the ends of the earth. But the end of evangelicalism as we know it is close.”
Remarkably, however, the author predicts that Pentecostalism may be the last best hope for the evangelical movement. He says, “The ascendency of Charismatic-Pentecostal-influenced worship around the world can be a major positive for the evangelical movement if reformation can reach those churches and if it is joined with the calling, training, and mentoring of leaders. If American churches come under more of the influence of the movement of the Holy Spirit in Africa and Asia, this will be a good thing.” This article which has drawn a tidal wave of attention creates an unprecedented opportunity for the Apostolic church to move into the vacuum left by the declining church movement. We must take full advantage of the moment and act with swiftness and force.
While the Apostolic church has shown support for conservative values in our culture such as anti-abortion and anti-gay convictions, we have refused to turn these beliefs into crusades. We know that the only real hope for transforming the culture is not through political or financial policy, but through a genuine salvation experience and by falling in love with Jesus Christ. This is why we emphasize doctrine and discipleship over everything else. Even our children and young people know the basics of the Apostolic faith—repentance, baptism in Jesus’ name, receiving the Holy Ghost, the oneness of God, holiness—and we strive to keep these truths in the forefront of our evangelistic thrust and pulpit offerings.
It is time for all Apostolics to renew our commitment to our doctrines and practices. If we lose them, we will soon follow the rest of the evangelicals down the road to eventual demise. Let us endure the criticisms to be more relevant. Let us resist the pressure to be more in tune with the secular world. Let us dismiss the calls for us to disconnect from our past. Apostolic truths are not only timeless; they may also prove to be the reason why we remain a viable force in a postmodern world.