We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West.
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This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.
Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline. I'm convinced the grace and mission of God will reach to the ends of the earth. But the end of evangelicalism as we know it is close.
Who does he believe will be the strong ones to survive?
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Two of the beneficiaries will be the Roman Catholic and Orthodox communions. Evangelicals have been entering these churches in recent decades and that trend will continue, with more efforts aimed at the "conversion" of Evangelicals to the Catholic and Orthodox traditions.
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Charismatic-Pentecostal Christianity will become the majority report in evangelicalism. Can this community withstand heresy, relativism, and confusion? To do so, it must make a priority of biblical authority, responsible leadership, and a reemergence of orthodoxy.
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The ascendency of Charismatic-Pentecostal-influenced worship around the world can be a major positive for the evangelical movement if reformation can reach those churches and if it is joined with the calling, training, and mentoring of leaders. If American churches come under more of the influence of the movement of the Holy Spirit in Africa and Asia, this will be a good thing.
I’m not sure the article can be trusted with comments like
"Two of the beneficiaries will be the Roman Catholic and Orthodox communions. Evangelicals have been entering these churches in recent decades and that trend will continue"
When the Catholic Church is in on a steeper curse of collapse than the evangelicals...
__________________ If I do something stupid blame the Lortab!
Its funny how another persons words seem really thoughtful and applicable when they agree with my own hopes and imaginations.
Despite all of these challenges, it is impossible not to be hopeful. As one commenter has already said, "Christianity loves a crumbling empire."
We can rejoice that in the ruins, new forms of Christian vitality and ministry will be born. I expect to see a vital and growing house church movement. This cannot help but be good for an evangelicalism that has made buildings, numbers, and paid staff its drugs for half a century.
{excerpted from the source article from the C.S.M. used in OP, underlining EMPHASIS provided by tbpew}
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Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath [James 1:19]
I’m not sure the article can be trusted with comments like
"Two of the beneficiaries will be the Roman Catholic and Orthodox communions. Evangelicals have been entering these churches in recent decades and that trend will continue"
When the Catholic Church is in on a steeper curse of collapse than the evangelicals...
I have never been one to rely on polls and surveys for prophesies.
I read in Exodus where pharoah increased rigor and difficulty and the number of Jews grew more rapiidly. In the cold churches, they will get fired up or shrivel.
I’m not sure the article can be trusted with comments like
"Two of the beneficiaries will be the Roman Catholic and Orthodox communions. Evangelicals have been entering these churches in recent decades and that trend will continue"
When the Catholic Church is in on a steeper curse of collapse than the evangelicals...
What do you mean by a "steeper curse" or perhaps "curve?"
I think the authors were lumping in "main line Protestant" with "Evangelicals" here. It is the main line Protestants that have had the largest drop offs in membership.
And Catholicism has seen a revival in many places after getting past the abuse scandals and introducing some reforms to address the issue and alleviate the concerns of its members.
On the Orthodox front - with Russia (led by Putin's own devotion) getting back into the fold, the Eastern Rite churches are poised to see some dramatic upticks worldwide. Of course their own rivalries and their historic rivalry with Rome will be the source of some problems.
What do you mean by a "steeper curse" or perhaps "curve?"
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since Ferd's typing lets us fill in the blanks however we want (kind of like dressing up your GI Joe toy),
I filled in his intent with: "steeper course" as I read over his reply.
This is actually a backhanded compliment to the food pope since it means he is not just some 'cut-n-pasty' type...but he actually types his own words, spelled the way he wants to spell them.
__________________
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath [James 1:19]
since Ferd's typing lets us fill in the blanks however we want (kind of like dressing up your GI Joe toy),
I filled in his intent with: "steeper course" as I read over his reply.
This is actually a backhanded compliment to the food pope since it means he is not just some 'cut-n-pasty' type...but he actually types his own words, spelled the way he wants to spell them.
I was thinking along the lines of something Freudian at work here as well. For whatever reasons, my thoughts went to Revelation 12.
What do you mean by a "steeper curse" or perhaps "curve?"
I think the authors were lumping in "main line Protestant" with "Evangelicals" here. It is the main line Protestants that have had the largest drop offs in membership.
And Catholicism has seen a revival in many places after getting past the abuse scandals and introducing some reforms to address the issue and alleviate the concerns of its members.
On the Orthodox front - with Russia (led by Putin's own devotion) getting back into the fold, the Eastern Rite churches are poised to see some dramatic upticks worldwide. Of course their own rivalries and their historic rivalry with Rome will be the source of some problems.
I defy spell check... yes curve.
did you see the poll from yesterday? It seemed to suggest that the catholic church is very much in decline. and you may be right about Evangelicals and Mainline Protestantism being blended in this article.
__________________ If I do something stupid blame the Lortab!
since Ferd's typing lets us fill in the blanks however we want (kind of like dressing up your GI Joe toy),
I filled in his intent with: "steeper course" as I read over his reply.
This is actually a backhanded compliment to the food pope since it means he is not just some 'cut-n-pasty' type...but he actually types his own words, spelled the way he wants to spell them.
LOLOLOL!
God bless you my dear brother!
__________________ If I do something stupid blame the Lortab!
did you see the poll from yesterday? It seemed to suggest that the catholic church is very much in decline. and you may be right about Evangelicals and Mainline Protestantism being blended in this article.
Just looking at them objectively, I think the RCC is in a better position than it has been for perhaps centuries to turn itself around. The infiltration into the American church, and the seeming acceptance of, pedophiles and other abusers was sickening and turned many Catholics away, myself included.
I was raised as a child to be Catholic but the whole thing gave me the heebie-jeebies and I never really understood why until I was an adult. At 11 years of age I pretty much made up my own mind about "religion" and such and it did not include the RCC. Something about effeminate priests and angry manish nuns just turned me sour. I stayed away and was finally kicked out of confirmation classes for having a "bad attitude" toward the angry feminazi nuns.
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