the death of evangelicalism:

A friend of mine twittered this link about the coming collapse of evangelicalism. When I read the article, I felt several of my thoughts validated and a slight twinge of hope. The thoughts that I felt were validated were the thoughts that I wasn’t alone in seeing the unhealthy merge of pop-christianity and civil issues. I mean, Christianity is very political, but it’s also very subversive to empire. But I’ve noticed that many Christians have tried to become the empire and couldn’t distinguish between church and country. The hope comes in the thought of the church being in exile. She has always thrived in exile. I’m not here concerned about evangelicalism. As far as I’m concerned, the “evangelical” institutions that I’ve encountered can evaporate. It’s almost become a 4-letter-word to me. But when I say the church, I am talking about any community committed to love of neighbor and G-d. This is the church. And she will catch some heat during this period but that’s alright. So long as the church consists of, to use Jesus’ words, “sheep that are not of this fold,” she’ll survive. Perhaps the death of evangelicalism could be viewed less like a funeral and more like a long awaited amputation of a dead limb.