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Friday 13 March 2009

Whither Evangelicalism?

I apologize for not giving a hat tip to through whomever I was led to this article, (that sentence seems incorrect... hmm.)
Anyway, can't recall how I was led to it.

But verrrrry interesting - I had given more notice to what the recently published results of the Pew survey of religion in America said about Catholicism, (not exactly an encouraging picture,) but some denominations feel their situation is more dire still.

The self-described "postevangelical reformation Christian in search of a Jesus-shaped spirituality" author of the article in question does not see balmy weather ahead for the Evangelical churches, and suggests many of their defections will be to Catholicism:Two of the beneficiaries will be the Roman Catholic and Orthodox communions. Evangelicals have been entering these churches in recent decades and that trend will continue, with more efforts aimed at the "conversion" of Evangelicals to the Catholic and Orthodox traditions.

But what really struck me in the article was a description of a problem we share with them (and, the inane "solution" to that problem is something else Catholics regrettably have in common with Evangelicals.)
the billions of dollars we've spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it. Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community. Coming generations of Christians are going to be monumentally ignorant and unprepared for culture-wide pressures.
In totally and utterly unrelated news, Himself is .... looking forward to attending a First Communion next week.
He has strict instructions to make note of various liturgical initiatives the parish in question undertakes.

1 comment:

lvschant said...

Failing to teach our youth the depth of orthodox theology and the objective truths cannot be overcome by LifeTeen Masses, or teen programs that teach young people to focus more on themselves than on God. That has to be true of all the splinter groups as well as the true church. This article seems to bear that out, no?