Haven't we been here before? Church of England gives up on evangelism

 

Winston Churchill once famously said, "I did not become His Majesty's First Minister so that I might oversee the liquidation of the British Empire!" Justin Welby, conversely, appears to be resigned to be the Archbishop who oversees the liquidation of Christianity in the British Isles. Underneath yet another unflattering portrait of His Grace in his oversized "dolphin" mitre is written the following lede by Ruth Gledhill:

The Church of England has admitted that the country has become a nation that knows almost nothing about Christianity and that there is no point any more attempting to convert anyone.

To read the entire article, you have to subscribe to The Times, which is a bit difficult if you don't have access to British currency. Ms. Gledhill was kind enough to e-mail me a copy of the whole piece but I will not reprint it here since that would be violating a trust. Suffice it to say it doesn't get any better as the article unfolds. Apparently, the Mother Church, or at least its beleaguered leadership, is chafing under the withering attacks of atheism and secular humanism.

It is hardly earthshaking news that the Church of England in its current state is not the most vibrant expression of the Christian faith in the twenty first century, but such a state of spiritual dullness is hardly unique to its history. There was nothing particularly vibrant about eighteenth century Anglicanism, either. It was in danger, so it seemed, of being eclipsed by deism and rationalism until a peculiar band of field preachers led by John Wesley, his brother Charles, and George Whitefield arrived on the scene. All they did was start proclaiming again a simple truth which much of England knew almost nothing about at the time: the message of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The result was a spiritual awakening which not only spared England a fate similar to the disastrous French Revolution, but also crossed the Atlantic and ignited the fires of faith on the shores of America.

The Mother Church today is not likely to produce another Wesley or Whitefield. Such a person is more likely to emerge from the global Anglican diaspora. The awakening will come, however, in God's time and on God's terms. Whether it begins in a small parsonage in Epworth or a remote village in Kenya, you can rest assured it will find its way back to Canterbury, and the half-hearted elites who were so willing to accommodate a godless culture will be shamed either into repentance or obscurity.

Everything Old is New Again

"What is this? A new teaching with authority!" That was the reaction of the crowd when Jesus healed a man with an unclean spirit (Mark 1:27). Of course, Jesus' teaching was really nothing "new." It was the fulfillment of everything to which the law and the prophets had pointed. Yet, he amazed the people in the synagogue on that particular Sabbath day because "he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes" (Mark 1:22). What the people saw and heard in Jesus was more than mere words. But since they had never seen the Word brought to life in their hearing and before their eyes, they received the teaching of this carpenter from Nazareth as something "new."

In Athens, Paul's preaching of Jesus and the resurrection was, likewise, received by the Athenians as some "new teaching" (Acts 17:19). But, as Paul explained, Jesus and the resurrection were not only the fulfillment of the hope of the Jews, but also the full revelation of the truth which had been veiled even in the myriad religions of the Gentiles. Paul was not offering the Athenians some strange "new teaching." Rather, he was shining a new light, the light of Jesus and the resurrection, on their oldest and most cherished hopes and dreams.

Centuries later, John and Charles Wesley were accused of spreading "new doctrines." Yet, all they had done was rediscover one of the most essential doctrines of primitive, Scriptural Christianity: holiness of heart and life. The movement which they founded sought not to create some "new" sect but, rather, to breathe new life into what had become a lifeless, old, institutional religion.

The "new wine" that is flowing in the church today is not the result of some "new teaching." Rather, it is God's Spirit moving among his people yet again, making everything that is "old" seem "new" again. For those still trapped in the death throes of American Protestantism, this present work of renewal may seem foreign, both spiritually and geographically (with the strongest winds of revival blowing in our direction from Asia, Africa, and South America). Evangelicals within these declining institutions (which now, apparently, includes even the once thriving Southern Baptist Convention) have fallen victim to a hopelessly myopic vision on the part of their aging leadership.

We need to raise our scope above the old muddled morass of four decades of false hopes invested in the human strategies of legislative agendas and political networking to see the new day that is dawning on the horizon. The renewal of the church--the whole Church of Jesus Christ--is the work of God and it is happening in a way none of us could have imagined.

"Behold, I am making all things new," God promises from his throne (Revelation 21:5). That promise is coming true before our very eyes. Everything old is new again. We need only open our eyes and see the marvelous work that God is doing in our midst.

"An Inch Deep and a Mile Wide"

Being connected with the Anglican Church of Rwanda and its sister provinces of the Global South of the Anglican Communion, I have a keen interest in how God is moving on the continent of Africa. It is one of the great providential ironies of history that western countries such as the United States, which sent missionaries to the furthest reaches of Africa over a century ago, now stand in desperate need of a re-introduction to the Gospel. That re-introduction is taking place, in large part, through the missionary outreach of African churches which were originally planted by those western missionaries of last century.

But, at the same time, many in Africa are falling victim to the false gospel of "health and wealth," which has been prevalent in America for several decades, as my colleague Greg Goebel observes. Some have described the revival in Africa as being "an inch deep and a mile wide," noting its widespread appeal but often shallow substance. As noted by Isaac Phiri and Joe Maxwell in Christianity Today, the most aberrant form of "health and wealth" in Africa has a distinctively American flavor.

The worst brand of African prosperity teaching is, perhaps unsurprisingly, an American export. Experts cite various reasons for the spread of this kind of renewalism, better known as health-and-wealth, including:

• American lifestyles have led African believers to equate Christian faith with wealth.

• Traditional African values often link material success and spiritual success.

• The African "Big Man" ideal honors rich, powerful leaders such as prosperity preachers.

And then there is television. As Pentecostal-charismatic programming has flooded Africa, renewalist numbers have risen from 17 million in 1970 to 147 million in 2005. The continent's largest religious broadcaster is Santa Ana, California–based Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), followed by Europe's GOD TV.

As TV sets grow common in African cities, these broadcasters are gaining huge audiences. People who lack a TV often watch with neighbors, and viewing options are limited. In Zambia, only three stations click on: MUVI TZ, which airs reruns of U.S. shows and old movies; ZNBC, the Zambian National Broadcasting Company; and TBN. Television is becoming the continent's religious classroom.

It remains commonplace for American television evangelists to talk about the "desperate need" for taking the Gospel to Africa. But such an appeal is becoming an anachronism. Christians in Africa are beginning to see the need for the Gospel is far more "desperate" in America. They know all too well about the abandonment of the faith by mainline churches. Now, as the "health and wealth" message begins to gain a foothold in their land, they are seeing yet another sad example of how the American experience has perverted the message of Christ.