Is there hope for the Evangelical church?

I just read an article entitled The Coming Evangelical Collapse by Michael Spencer. Spencer, who founded and directed a site called internetmonk.com until he died of cancer in May of this year, predicted that within the next two generations, the number of Evangelicals in America will be cut in half. He cites a number of reasons for the collapse. One of the more telling is this:

We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. Ironically, the billions of dollars we’ve spent on youth ministries, Christian music, publishing, and media have produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about the own faith except how they feel about it.

I’ve heard a similar critique from several other sources. Many are convinced that we’re not providing our young people with the necessary foundation to be able to proffer a response to the challenges raised by their associates and teachers. Our young people grow up with a bifurcated worldview – a world of religious experience that is emotionally satisfying (at least most of the time) and the world of their everyday encounters where their faith is irrelevant at best (if not downright ridiculous).

I fear the critique is justified. I remain hopeful, however, that the situation can be turned. I hang onto that hope because the church is by very nature hopeful. My prayer for the congregation I pastor is that we will demonstrate cultural relevance through the twin hallmarks of theological integrity and genuine service. But in order to do so, we must switch from a “come and receive” to a “go and serve” mentality. That is exceptionally difficult, especially for an old established church like ours that has known great success in the past by simply opening its doors.

The question is whether or not we can serve others with such vitality and hold to the biblical foundations with such conviction that it is convincing to this generation. Can we, through our authenticity, demonstrate that it’s worth forsaking all to follow Christ? I believe that we can.

This school year our youth pastor, Tony, is once again meeting with a group of young interns who are committing several hours a week to helping in the youth ministry and to learning biblical principles. They aren’t doing it to earn money, or because they are sensing a call to professional ministry (although that may happen), but because they want their faith to be real. So they’re working on exactly the two hallmarks I mentioned above: theological integrity and genuine service.

If there is hope for Evangelicalism, it is found in young people like that. But it’s not only the young people themselves – it’s also the process. It takes spiritual leaders like Pastor Tony to call them out and to call them up… up to a higher standard of discipleship than simply a feel-good Christianity. I thank God that it’s happening in the youth group. May God grant that it will happen in communities of all ages throughout the greater Church.