Christian Recession- Factor #3

1. From “Divided” to “United”-
   1. Quotes from Chapter 3:
      1. “If a house is divided against itself, the house cannot stand (Mark 3:25)”.
      2. Our great strength in the 20^th century was our unity, our ability to agree to disagree and then work together in Christ’s name for the gospel. We are losing that cohesion (p.65). With good intentions, many evangelicals have elevated political positions to the level of spiritual or theological orthodoxy (p. 68). Younger, coastal, highly educated, and metropolitan evangelicals feel more and more strongly that we should abandon political rhetoric and elevate the gospel by focusing on Jesus’ message to a post-Christian culture that is not home (p.77). Theologically conservative evangelicals will either take a bunker mentality and allow the movement to drift into pluralism, or they will push against these changes and purify the movement hopefully in a spirit of grace and love (p. 78).

1. Quotes from Chapter 9:
   1. “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3)”.
   2. I am calling evangelical leaders, and young leaders especially, to join in solidifying a unified national evangelical movement (p.155). The National Association of Evangelicals Statement of Faith, the Apostles Creed, the Westminster Confession, and other common creeds outline the widely accepted evangelical essentials (p. 155). Without clear boundaries, we have no true power or unity (p. 156). We evangelicals believe Scripture is authoritative, true, understandable, and infallible. This is an essential (p. 156). Forward-thinking evangelicals will respect the political diversity within the body of Christ today. They will intentionally avoid associating Christ’s message with any one political party or politician (p. 163). If evangelicalism has any hope of regrouping and becoming a nimbler, more focused, and spiritually capable movement, we must learn again to unify, despite differences, within the essentials (p. 165).
2. Reflection:
   1. I am old enough to remember the Republican evangelical alliance in the 1990’s and young enough to have wondered if it was a bad idea. I am no longer Republican (or Democrat) but had been previously and didn’t understand how people could call themselves Christian and belong to the Democratic party, mainly because they supported abortion. I still wonder about that but now understand better that there are other important biblical issues that also need our attention (e.g. poverty, environment, racism, etc.). I think Jesus would be politically involved is he were an American today, but it would not be his top priority and he would probably be Independent. In other words, I agree with the author that that church should not serve a political party. Nor should the church abandon the political arena.
   2. I am also old enough to have experienced different theologies which impact the issue of unity. I have high respect for those called Fundamental Separatists because they hold God’s word is very high esteem, are determined to obey Him, and actually have a robust biblical explanation for their lifestyle. I have also experienced the value of interdenominational relationships for community service, worship, charity and outreach. Those who emphasize teaching need those who emphasize works of service. Those who prefer order do well to worship with those who welcome spontaneity, emotion and freedom of the Spirit. Those who have only been taught dispensational pre-millennialism do well to learn the literal method of interpretation which leads to post-millennial hope. Yet I have also experienced unity among community churches which resulted in a preacher speaking at a high school baccalaureate who perverted the gospel to the point where students were told they were the light of the world without any mention of faith, belief, confession or repentance. Having studied historical theology, I see the value of the Creeds and agreeing to disagree over the non-essentials but 1 Corinthians 11:19 says there needs to be division at times to show who has God’s approval. On that point I think the author’s recommendation is good: As long as we can agree on the authority, truth, understandability and infallibility of God’s word then we can unite. And unite we must if Jesus’ prayer in John 17 is to be fulfilled.