Archbishop Haverland''s article focuses primarily on some trends in the Southern Baptist Convention, which by and large with 16 million adherents is the largest Evangelical Protestant denomination in the US. In reading the article, I see the Archbishop making two very important (and I must say correct) assessments that many of our Evangelical friends would do well to take notice of. First, he mentions that the "Mainline" churches often turn "Sideline," based on terminology from Richard John Neuhaus, and inevitably some societal tendencies could "sideline" the "mainline." Going further, Archbishop Haverland observes that the "Mainline" of yesteryear - groups like the United Methodists and the ECUSA, among others - has become the "Sideline" while larger, more conservative groups - the Southern Baptists, Lutheran Church/Missouri Synod, Presbyterian Church in America, Assemblies of God, and Nazarenes, among others - have by their increased numbers become more "Mainline." Yet, as the Archbishop also alludes to, the conservative Evangelical "Mainline" of the present is in danger as well, and he notes it is due to what he calls "profound individualism" on the part of many Evangelicals in regard to soteriology and spirituality - the danger he notes, citing specifically the great increase in divorce rates, is a changing in attitudes regarding key moral issues based on societal peer pressure, to use my own translation of what he said. Toward the conclusion of his article, the Archbishop says Baptists have a choice - they can either slowly secularize as many of yesterday's "Mainliners" have and decline, or they can begin to commit to a creed and tradition that would anchor their convictions better - he notes the rise in a movement called Reformed Baptists (one of my good college friends is active in this group) among former Southern Baptists due to the fact the Reformeds offer a more solid grounding in tradition and stability that some Southern Baptists feel are lacking. Indeed, the Reformed Baptists are a growing phenomenon too, and although a little too Calvinistic for my taste, they nonetheless have retained some things that many Southern Baptists once had and lost that are beneficial to maintaining a strong Biblically-sound faith. Therefore, I concur with the Archbishop that this may be something good.
However, there is something even better that really caught my attention as the Archbishop concluded his article. In his closing words, he wrote this statement - "The Anglican Catholic Church and its clergy need to look for growth not only to the former Episcopalians - a small and shrinking group - but also to the millions upon millions of conservative Protestants." All I have to say to that is this - AMEN!!! More so than ever, America is a ripe mission field for the harvest, but unlike the missionary endeavors of the past, this is a little different - we need to start casting out lifelines to dedicated people, who are Christians, that are finding themselves dispossessed by a lot of paradigm shifting in the American religious landscape. Many of us -myself included! - have been there; we love the spiritual upbringing of our youth, but we also have been disturbed by the fact that many of the churches that once nurtured it are now eschewing and ridiculing those foundations. I was raised in a Pentecostal environment, born again myself in a Southern Baptist church, graduated from a Pentecostal Bible school here in Florida, and for many years was an active minister in the Foursquare Church (a large Pentecostal denomination). Yet, I grew very disenfranchised with what I was seeing as a departure from the old-time faith of these churches in many congregations, and it seemed as if their leadership was more hung up on running their denominations like Fortune 500 companies rather than spiritual centers that they should be - therefore, it seems as if the trend was in many of these Evangelical, supposedly conservative, churches was more toward entertainment and relevancy versus discipleship and spiritual growth. With the rise of such things as the megachurch, Rick Warren's "Purpose-Driven" ideology, the whole "seeker" movement, and the Emerging Church cult, many distinctives of Evangelicalism became deconstructed, redefined, and even "de-christianized" to the point some of these formerlly Evangelical "churches" are hardly recognizeable as Christian anymore! It seems like these "churches" were more interested in rock bands, shopping malls in the sanctuaries, and other nonessentials than they were in their mandated mission laid down two millenia before by Christ Himself, and therefore a number of people in these churches found themselves dispossessed and basically "spiritual orphans." Archbishop Haverland said early in his article "I have argued that American Fundamentalists are merely the slow lane to secularization," and to be honest, he is tragically correct - churches, via Rick Warren and other innovators, are becoming more secularized every day because they are ashamed to be identified as "Christian." In many of these groups that have adopted this mentality - and it is spreading like a cancer unfortunately - it has become a cardinal offense to mention words in a sermon or anywhere else such as "sin," "hell," and "repentance," as well as becoming taboo to preach on subjects related to it such as Bible prophecy and the Second Coming. Altar calls and revivals - once the spiritual "bread-and-butter" of the Evangelical churches - are now deemed "antiquated" and "irrelevent." Worse, societal ills have crept into churches that just a few decades ago wouldn't have even entertained the notion of accepting - divorce rates are at an all-time high among professed Christians, as is consumption of alcohol and pornography, and I see a lot of religious syncretism going on as more and more supposedly "spirit-filled" Christians are dabbling in occultic practices such as reading horoscopes, etc. It has gotten so bad that once I remember in an office I worked that the manager - a self-professed Pentecostal Christian - would often ogle pornography while listening to "praise" music! What blasphemy!! However, it gets worse, especially when one sees what is happening to the youth in churches. In 2006, noted Evangelical speaker/author Josh McDowell published a book entitled The Last Christian Generation (Holiday, FL: Green Key Books) and the premise of the book was the fact that many professed Evangelical Christian youth are in a crisis of faith due to the fact they are not being properly discipled and reached. He notes, on page 18, that George Barna conducted a poll in which 98% of "Christian" young people simply "believe in Christ" but do not reflect Christian attitudes or actions. But, it gets scarier - on page 15, Mcdowell notes some other disturbing statistics among church-going youth:
- 63% don't believe Jesus is the Son of the one true God;
- 58% believe all faiths teach equally valid truths;
- 51% don't believe Jesus was bodily resurrected;
- 65% don't believe Satan is a real entity;
- 68% don't believe the Holy Spirit is a real entity
The transformation of the vampire from monster to hero reflects the gradual decay of of the Christian faith into an anemic shell of its former self. The critical role of the blood shed by Jesus Christ for the redemption of our sins has been replaced in many churches today, eithe by an emphasis on our own works, or by a kinder, gentler Jesus for whom the greatest sin is being untrue to our innermost desires. (Horn, 70)
This goes back to Archbishop Haverland's assessment that profound individualism on the part of Evangelicals will over time lead to secularization. The stats and quotes I have supplied here are evidence that this is not something for the distant future - it is happening now! And, not only is secularization a threat, but worse, many of these kids will soon discover that secularization doesn't fulfill the spiritual void and they will start looking for something to do just that - it is a field day for Satan, because as this vampire trend (we have talked about that before) becomes more popular, it is going to introduce kids to the dark side of spirituality, and that could mean their very souls are at risk. All of this while Rick Warren and his many disciples fiddle around and play "Purpose-Driven Church" - it's all good to them, because their salaries are getting paid and their bank accounts are fat! They have "dumbed-down" the Gospel so much that it is hardly recognizable, and as a result, people have a spiritual hunger. If those of us who know the truth do not take advantage of this, many souls could be lost for eternity and accountable from our hands, as their blood will stain us crimson. And, that is all the more reason why I believe Archbishop Haverland's article is important - he sees the opportunity the Holy Spirit is giving to us as conservative Catholic Christians, and he I truly believe has been given this insight for the Holy Spirit. Now, let's talk about that.
The Archbishop talks about the dilemma among the Southern Baptists - and among Evangelicals in general - generating a huge potential audience for our message. What is our message? It is the historic Catholic Faith, grounded in Scripture and Holy Tradition, and as the Archbishop correctly assesses, it is exactly what many of these people need. Although many youth, for instance, are being secularized, or worse even being drawn into occultism through the proliferation of vampire cults and such, there are a Remnant of young people who are discovering the historic Liturgy and spirituality of our faith, and they want it! Unfortunately, they are not going to find it in Rome - the Roman Catholics have their own issues that parallel the Evangelicals - and they unfortunately will not find it in the Christian East - the East tends to, despite a beautiful and rich spirituality, degenerate into legalism and triumphalist mentality when it comes to the idea of other Christians. So, it is up to those of us who are independent Catholics and Continuing Anglicans to reach these people. Youth are searching, and older sincere Christians also end up being dispossessed a lot of times as their former congregations, many of which they were pillars of at one point, have embraced entertainment, Rick Warren, or the Emerging Church, and when these dear people see something is amiss with all that garbage, they are often thrown out like yesterday's garbage from churches they had contributed so much to in the past. All of these people need a home, and they need spiritual communion - we can offer that. And, we should. The harvest is indeed ready for the American mission field, and we who are independent Catholics and Continuing Anglicans need laborers to gather it. Let us catch that vision, and let's give the orphans a secure home - they are our brothers and sisters in Christ, as they are already dedicated Christians, so they need us too. May we take this to mind in all of our parishes as our Archbishop has presented us a challenge. May we, as the Roman Catholic Mass rightly says, "go in peace to love and serve the Lord" by providing a spiritual home to our dispossessed brethren. Amen.
