Neither Falwell nor Benedict, But a New Creation

By: American Decency Staff

This is yet another article claiming that we stand at a unique crossroads, and now face choices unlike those in the recent past. Here are my six predictions for evangelicalism in America in the next five years:

1. Evangelicals will lose little ground as a percentage of the American population.

Proclamations of significant evangelical decline often seize on headlines (“Christians Decline Sharply,” Pew, May 12) that don’t distinguish between evangelicals and other kinds of Christians. The significant declines are among mainline and progressive Catholic congregations. Others extrapolate major trends from individual bits of data, such as surveys of young evangelicals, that may not mean much. I predict only a very small decline in the next five years – probably too little to matter, almost certainly too little to matter much. Over a longer period of time, I anticipate the growing category of “Nones” will be a fruitful mission field for evangelicals, not in the next five years but probably in the following five.

2. Evangelicals will hold steady on core beliefs, but will often sound like we aren’t.

As the dominant culture demands more and more sternly that we sacrifice our core beliefs upon pain of becoming pariahs, anxiety about evangelical identity and anxiety about reaching out to our neighbors are already in conflict. Evangelicals do not want to abandon what we know to be true, but we also do not want to accept a cultural isolation that would leave us without opportunities to demonstrate God’s love for a lost world. I’m not concerned evangelicals will move away from our core beliefs; too many key leaders – and not just the usual doctrine police – have made it clear they won’t bend. Also, outsiders tend to forget that American evangelical leaders are very deeply connected with our brothers and sisters in the Global South, who urge us to faithfulness.

At the same time, we will often sound like we’re moving away from our beliefs. Unfortunately, most of our neighbors don’t understand our worldview enough to understand that our struggle not to be put in a position of enmity toward our neighbors isn’t a shift in our core commitments. And of course there are a lot of people who have a vested interest in portraying any conciliatory rhetoric from evangelical leaders as a sign of their capitulation. Expect a lot of trumped-up claims about evangelicals abandoning their beliefs that don’t pan out.

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