The Real Reason Christian Denominations are Afraid of Tomorrow

A Call for a New Reformation, Part 2

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A while back, Evangelical leaders had an idea. What if they replaced the organ with a praise band? 

While the older generations loved their organ music, the younger generations were more interested in rock and roll. If that's what would to attract young people, that’s what they would leverage. 

The goal was to get young folks in the door so pastors could feed them the same Christian message they had been preaching since the emergence of evangelicalism with the Second Great Awakening: 

• You are a sinner

• You deserve hell

• Jesus saves

• Accept Jesus into your heart as Lord and Savior so you can go to heaven and not end up suffering eternal torment in the indescribably torturous fires of Hell like all the non-Christians around you

And, it worked! 

Not only did Evangelical churches avoid the decline experienced by mainline churches, they actually grew in many cases. Feeling validated, conservative Evangelicals became bullish with their theology and community norms.

For example, back when I was in seminary around the turn of the millennium, many conservative Evangelicals argued that the reason their churches were not in decline was specifically because of their strong emphasis on Christian identity and behavior. In other words, they were uncompromising with their Evangelical beliefs and adamant about standing up for what they saw as biblical values. 

At the time, my response was simple. I said, “Their time is coming, and when it hits it will be far worse for them than it ever was for the mainline churches”. 

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