Michael Spencer (the Internet Monk) writes a provocative piece on the future of evangelicalism.  I agree that there’s a large transition ahead, but not sure that it’s quite as apocalyptic as what he believes.

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.

Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants. (Between 25 and 35 percent of Americans today are Evangelicals.) In the “Protestant” 20th century, Evangelicals flourished. But they will soon be living in a very secular and religiously antagonistic 21st century.

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.

via The coming evangelical collapse | csmonitor.com.

3 responses to “★ The coming evangelical collapse | csmonitor.com”

  1. Ryan Avatar

    Wow. He sounds almost hopeful. 10 years seems a little fast and maybe some parts of the country will match his apocalyptic vision (like our home area?). But it's hard to imagine the Southern Baptists and people like Rick Warren going away that fast. But certainly there are some seismic shifts happening. Interesting article though.
    Did you see David Wilkerson's statement last Saturday that the end is near for New York, Connecticut and beyond?
    http://davidwilkersontoday.blogspot.com/2009/03/u

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  2. Kathrin Avatar

    I wonder if the increase in intolerance towards Christians is directly related to how intolerant some Christians are towards others?

    Has the chicken come home to roost?

    I am often extremely disturbed by the lack of tolerance and compassion many self-professed Christians express towards people who may not believe exactly as they do.

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  3. Jan Chandler Avatar

    You don't have to look too closely to see signs of this starting now. Our world is truly changing and things look pretty desprate HOWEVER Christians know in Whom they trust, and Who holds their(yours & mine) lives. This is a time for Christians to make plans, prepare for action, teach the children like crazy, and understand with out a doubt and with no fear, that God is still in charge and He will, because He always has, take care of His own in times of struggle.

    We need to understand what might happen in the furture… this article was a good pointer and certainly gets one's attention. Now I would like to request Michael Spencer to write another article or a series, on just how Christians should prepare their hearts and the hearts of their families… to strengthen the believers to withstand the coming onslaught of our church traditions. Tevye, in "Fiddler on the Roof," was lovable and was concerned about their traditions but he was not pro active. I believe now is a time to get planning and preparing the believers…. but how??

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I’m Pat

Passionate about the common good, human flourishing, lifelong learning, being a good ancestor.

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