The End Of The Evangelical Experiment?

There is a certain irony in asking whether the evangelical experiment has come to an end at precisely the moment when evangelicalism appears, at least superficially, to be everywhere. Its language permeates Christian discourse; its institutions dominate the Protestant landscape; its instincts shape everything from preaching styles to publishing strategies. Yet ubiquity is not the same as vitality. Indeed, it may well be the mask behind which decline hides most effectively. The question, then, is not whether evangelicalism exists, but whether the particular form it has taken in the 20th and early 21st centuries has proven itself fit for purpose. And here, one suspects, the answer is far less comforting. For if the experiment was intended to produce a church capable of withstanding the pressures of an increasingly secular age while maintaining fidelity to the gospel once delivered to the saints, then the results thus far are decidedly underwhelming. At the heart of the problem lies a paradox: evangelicalism, in its modern guise, has arguably sought unity at the expense of identity. And in so doing, it has rendered itself increasingly incapable of speaking with clarity, conviction, or authority to the world it inhabits.

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