A Lover's Quarrel with the Evangelical Church

Warren Cole Smith, no evangelical outsider, doesn't have a lot good to say about the state of evangelicalism in the United States.  A long-time figure in Christian journalism, he has seen the American church up close and personal for many years.  In A Lover's Quarrel, Smith's criticism of the church can be boiled down to this: in a half century of rising cultural and institutional prominence, evangelicalism has very little to show for its efforts.  The number of parachurch ministries, the number of megachurches, the availability of Christian books and music, and the amount of Christian radio and TV broadcasting have all exploded, yet the number of people attending church has remained steady, if not declined, and the overall culture does not reflect a stronger Christian presence.

Smith describes the symptoms of the problem with evangelicalism as follows:

• The New Provincialism.  Evangelicals have lost all sense of history and tradition.  Just as a Texan might think that all things not Texan have little or no value (rightly so, of course), the modern evangelical church believes that all things not of the moment have little value.
• The Triumph of Sentimentality.  Evangelicals have a "false notion of the world as it is."  We "replace a biblical God with one we prefer."
• The Christian-Industrial Complex.  Evangelicals have made an industry of ministry.  Discipleship and ministry have taken a back seat to perpetuating institutions and generating profits.
• Body-Count Evangelism.  Parachurch ministries and crusade evangelism have fostered a focus on numbers, where "people become statistics" and "true salvations become opportunities for not for joy, but for bragging."
• The Great Stereopticon.  The church's rapid embrace of technology has turned the focus to entertainment and minimized the role of preaching and teaching.
• Christianity's Next Small Thing.  The rising prominence of short-term missions has wasted countless resources and misses the importance of church planting, discipleship, and indigenous leadership.

If you have been around evangelical churches at all, you probably recognize some, if not all, of these in your own church experiences.  However, if you're like me, you can also think of many exceptions.  While reading this, I kept thinking of those studies that show the most people have a very low opinion of Congress, but like their own congressmen (thus reelect them), or who decry the low quality of public schools, while holding their local campus in high esteem (thus continuing to send their children to pubilc schools). 

Smith is particularly hard on megachurches.  He cites statistics which demonstrate that as the number of megachurches has grown, actual church attendance in the U.S. has remained stagnant or even declined, and the number of churches that close down increased.  Thus, he argues that megachurches typically draw not from the unchurched, as they claim to, but from members of other churches.  On top of that, the "seeker friendly" emphasis of many megachurches, "constantly focused on outreach [rather] than spiritual formation, . . . ensures that every generation would have to be reevangelized, since the current adult generation does not have the spiritual training or maturity to raise its own children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

He does name some names, and demonstrates how some large churches, such as Willow Creek in Illinois, wield wide influence.  But I can't help thinking he's missing something.  Surely he found megachurches that are exceptions to his rule?  I can think of some churches that fit his description, but I can think of plenty of others which do a lot right.

The whole tone of the book is critical.  A lover's quarrel will have plenty of criticism, I suppose, but if you don't want it to turn to divorce, you'd better have some grace and willingness to come together.  Smith doesn't have much constructive to say in light of his criticisms.  Yes, he argues, smaller is better, and church planting is a more natural and effective way to reach the lost than building larger and larger churches, but  the book leaves me with a negative taste in my mouth.  To be sure, many evangelicals will be challenged by his criticisms, but without a more constructive message, his words fall on deaf ears.