[sonrise57]

By evangelicalism I mean protestant churches that are committed to the inerrancy of scripture and profess historic chalcedonian Christianity. The creeds say, "I believe in one holy catholic church" catholic meaning "universal". Most evangelicals would say that the Church is an ivisible and mysterious organism under the headship of Jesus Christ, consisting of everyone who professes that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead. The commentary that you are making on contemporary evangelical churches and the cult of personality we have fallen into is unfortunately not unfounded.

However, unlike Barna, I believe that evangelicalism is not coming to end, but rather is going a through a change. What we will become remains to be seen.

[Illbay]

...evangelicalism is not coming to end, but rather is going a through a change.

IMO, it is simply doing what all the other churches have done, Catholic and Protestant: Adjusting itself to appeal to the greatest number.

Please understand that I have been living in the "Bible Belt" pretty much my entire life, and I see from the outside. That whole movement has become "bread and circuses," because the concept of the "megachurch" led inevitably to the realization that they had to keep doing more and more "spectacular" things to keep up the growth level.

You can see the services of any given "megachurch" here in the Houston are, for example, on Sundays, with many of them replayed during the week.

Most of their sermons are long on rhetoric and short on any real substance, because they can't delve into substance; they might offend someone.

It is not a coincidence that instances of marital infidelity and divorce are highest among evangelical Christians. They are people who live for excitement and stimulation, speaking in the aggregate.