Evangelical editor picks a quarrel with his cohorts (claims they have lost their way)

Charlotte Observer ^ | June 6, 2009 | Tim Funk

[NYer]

Evangelical Protestants – born-again, Bible-believing and ever-ready to spread the Word – make up the country's biggest religious group, with 26 percent of all U.S. adults.

Marching under that banner are some of America's most prominent figures of faith, from Rick Warren to Franklin Graham.

And who is most closely identified with mega-churches, contemporary Christian music, mass-rally evangelism and best-selling, purpose-driven Christian books? That's right: Evangelicals.

Sounds like a golden age for the evangelical church, right?

Wrong, says Warren Cole Smith, an evangelical journalist and longtime editor of The Charlotte World.

In his new book, an insider critique called “A Lover's Quarrel with the Evangelical Church” (Authentic Books, $16.99), Smith argues that many, if not most, evangelical churches have lost their way. Instead of sticking with core biblical principles, rich traditions and church-as-community, he says, they promote feel-goodism, technological fads and church-as-entertainment.

During a recent interview, he laid out his criticisms – as well as some of his solutions.

Among his more provocative charges: “For the sake of money and power and status and celebrity … we've made ‘church' easy. We've made being a card-carrying member of the evangelical movement easy. But being a disciple of Jesus in the early 21st century is hard and, for the most part, the evangelical church doesn't teach us how to do that.”

Smith, who attends Presbyterian Church in America-affiliated StoneBridge Church, told me he's not in favor of destroying the evangelical movement, just reforming it. Call him an Orthodox evangelical.

For starters, he's put off by what he calls the sterile look of modern evangelical churches.

“You see PowerPoint presentations, projection systems. You've got to spend an hour looking in the cubbies to find a cross or an altar,” he said. “We have, in the space of 20 years, almost completely discarded the historic symbols of Christianity.”

Smith is also no fan of the latest practice in some churches: Twittering. Typing a mini-message into your BlackBerry may give the pastor feedback on his sermon, Smith said, but it also turns the congregation into an audience. He'd prefer his fellow evangelicals join in the recitation of the Apostles Creed or extend a handshake of peace to a pew-mate.

“The liturgy understands that humans need to actively participate and not be spectators,” Smith said.

Contemporary Christian music?

He'll take the time-tested hymns of yesteryear any day. When evangelical churches sing spiritually shallow “Jesus is my boyfriend” songs, Smith said, they are following the lead of today's Christian radio listeners, rather than the theologically astute composers of old.

“Music in church is not meant to make us feel good. It's to bring glory to God and be part of the teaching ministry of the church,” Smith said. “Those (hymns) have been vetted by the best theological minds of the last 200 years.”

OK, I know what you're thinking: Smith sure sounds cranky. What's so bad about feeling good about ourselves?

Plenty, said Smith. He calls it “the triumph of sentimentality,” recasting the world as we would like it to be (humans are basically pretty good) rather than what it really is (we are sinful creatures who need a divine savior).

In our hourlong talk, Smith saved his sharpest jab for smiling televangelist Joel Osteen, a Houston mega-pastor who fills auditoriums, goes on “ LarryKing Live,” and sells millions of books with his upbeat message.

“Joel Osteen has a view of the world that you can have your best life now,” Smith said. “If I were going to rewrite Genesis and put (modern) words into the mouth of Satan … I'd put Joel Osteen's words there: ‘You're not so bad. You're so close to being God now. Just a little tweak, a little tune-up, a little bit better. Just follow these 7 rules.'”

So how would Smith save evangelicalism?

Among his answers: Make pastors accountable to deacon or elder boards. Urge churchgoers to discover the vocation God is calling them to. Recover face-to-face community. Develop a stronger sense of history. Plant new churches. And avoid easy answers.

“I'm not saying that I've got all the answers,” Smith concluded. “But I am saying we have a rich biblical Christian tradition that has given us many, many good answers. We've forgotten them. Let's try to recover them.”

[Marysecretary]

I used to belong to an interfaith community chorus and we did parts of it a couple of times. What a great cantata that is. Imagine, he wrote it all in 26 days, I believe. Genius, and spirit-led on this one for sure.

[B-Chan]

Dear Evangelical Brothers and Sisters:
HE'S ABSOLUTELY RIGHT

Great post, NYer. There's hope for our separated brethren yet.

[B-Chan]

Oh! Jesus is my Boyfriend
Yes He’s the God For Me
I met Him at a mixer at
The Cross of Calvary
He never asks me questions
Or makes demands of me
‘Cause Jesus is my Boyfriend

Yes! Jesus is my Boyfriend
He’s not like other guys
My girlfriends love his dreamy hair
And rave about his eyes
We both love rockin’ music
So it’s really no surprise
That Jesus is my Boyfriend

[AnAmericanMother]

OK, I'm rolling on the floor here.

Do you have the music anywhere?

[Lee N. Field]

Alas, google pulls up nothing.

[AnAmericanMother]

Oh, rats!

We can just use the tune from "Give Jesus Christ the Football".

[Lee N. Field]

Warren Cole Smith

The Lutheran program Issues, etc. has interviewed Mr. Smith today. Just pulled it down in down in my podcast feed, haven't listened to it yet. I don't see a direct link at their site yet. It's about a half hour, and if it's to their usual standards it won't be fluff.

[Lee N. Field]

Link to Issues, Etc. talking to Warren Cole Smith.

Worth the half hour. I learned some things (that I will want to verify):

• Willow Creek (the definitional suburban seeker soporific big box evangelical Churchmall that everyone emulates and looks to for "leadership") started as an overgrown youth group, and consciously thinks of itself as "youth group for big folks".
• Not every group in the Willow Creek Association is Christian.
• "Becky". Becky is the notional audience that evangelical Christian radio is aiming at. Becky is 34, drives a minivan, has 2 kids, may or may not be Christian, and wants her radio "safe for the whole family". What Becky listens to now gets sung in worship in a couple-'r-three years.

So, I guess I'll just have to get Smith's book, read it in my "abundant free time", and pass it on to our church leadership (who seems bound and determined to go down that path ('cause this is what they're reading)).

Ping to Alex Murphy (Alex, is it you that runs the Your Bestest, Most Purposeful Life Now list?) and terriergal.

[Alex Murphy]

Becky is the notional audience that evangelical Christian radio is aiming at. Becky is 34, drives a minivan, has 2 kids, may or may not be Christian, and wants her radio "safe for the whole family". What Becky listens to now gets sung in worship in a couple-'r-three years.

LONE STARR: Yogurt, what is this place? What is that you do here?
YOGURT: Merchandising!

I'm pretty sure that churches have to pay some kind of licensing fee for the use of those modern "hymns" by Matthew West and the like. What is worth considering is not why the church is buying, but more importantly why the music publishing house is selling. There's a whole industry adjunct to radio that's built around writing (and selling) worship songs to evangelical churches for a profit, which generates record sales which generates demand for worship licenses ad infinitum. I will admit that if the very songs being marketed weren't narcissistic theological fluff, I wouldn't be complaining as loudly.

Alex, is it you that runs the Your Bestest, Most Purposeful Life Now list?

I'm very grateful for the ping (this is exactly the kind of stuff that I go looking for), but it's Gamecock that owns the pinglist!

[Lee N. Field]

There's a whole industry adjunct to radio that's built around writing (and selling) worship songs to evangelical churches for a profit, which generates record sales which generates demand for worship licenses ad infinitum.

"Church" is an industry, complete with "free-if-you-in-the-field" trade rags.

"Church Executive"

"Church Production Magazine"

"Church Solutions"

"Technologies for Worship "

Doubtless there are more. That's just for churchs, and that's just from a couple pages of Google search. There's probably more if you're into the "Christian retailing" side. And don't forget the Den of Thieves Retail Show. And there are a vast number of websites that will get you all set up if what you want is a prewritten sermon, complete with "powerpoints" and video clips and bulletin inserts.

Jesus wept. (Actually, I think a better biblical allusion would be "Jesus, 'making a whip of cords'....".)

Gamecock

who hasn't posted since April. :-(.