There’s No Better Time To Be An Evangelical Christian

Following up on my previous post, Ross Douthat (New York Times Op-Ed), There's No Better Time To Be A Catholic:  Russell Moore (Christianity Today Op-Ed), There’s Never Been a Better Time to Be an Evangelical Christian:

Just before Christmas, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat responded in his newsletter to the continuing controversy about the Francis papacy in a surprising way.

What was surprising here is not that Douthat, a convert to Catholicism, would write about the church’s stormy politics; he does so all the time. Also not surprising is his almost-despair about the Francis papacy; he is almost surely the most widely read Roman Catholic critic of the pope.

Surprising, though, was his conclusion: that there’s never been a better time to be a Roman Catholic. Over the past year, I’ve come to a similar conclusion: that there’s never been a better time to be an evangelical Christian. ...

When it comes to the crises of evangelical Protestantism ... I am in a very similar place to Douthat. I truly believe there is no better time to be born again. Here’s why.

Though not Roman, all of us profess to be “catholic,” in that we believe the church will ultimately endure through any “dangers, toils, and snares”—not to mention the abominations that make desolate—that the gates of hell (or the judgment of God) might muster. And, in addition to that, there are certain emphases that evangelicalism has brought to the broader body of Christ that should cause us to expect, and to endure, times like these.

The word evangelical is contested, of course, but sometimes we act as though this is a recent revelation. Evangelical is, quite intentionally, not an institution or an ideology. It describes instead a renewal movement that emphasizes and underscores certain aspects of universal Christianity—aspects that are maybe best described as the personal.

Jesus told us, “You must be born again,” and revival movements have warned that implicit faith in a church—much less national, ethnic, or political identity—is not enough. The question “Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?” might sound clichéd and might carry the baggage of a certain hyper-programmed sort of salesmanship, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true.

At its best, evangelical Christianity reminds the world and the church that the Good Shepherd doesn’t just see the flock but the one sheep lost in the woods. “God so loved the world” (John 3:16) is an important truth. So is “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25). But we also need to hear and believe that Jesus “loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20, emphasis added).

Even our view of biblical authority—often derided as naive and literalistic—is an emphasis on the personal. The issue isn’t just the objective truthfulness of the Scriptures (although that’s a necessary condition), but the question of actually personally reading, hearing, and living the Word of God. Under that is a confidence that God—as in the days of Josiah—can speak with the voice that creates life and new creation, even when the structures and institutions have fallen away. ...

Revival tents can collapse. Cathedrals can fall. But if the tomb in that garden is really empty, if those women weren’t lying, there will still be a church—even if every other hope gives way. And in that church, there will still be people saying, “Jesus loves me, this I know / for the Bible tells me so.” Maybe the deadest, most cynical, most hostile person you can imagine—maybe even you?—might be the one leading that cry.

In a time of justice-seeking without forgiveness, of self-actualization without new creation, people are longing for something many of them don’t even know to call “grace.” When they find it, they will be amazed. So should we.

We are born again at the right time. “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2, ESV) might just be another way of saying this: There’s never been a better time to be an evangelical Christian.

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