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Letter from AmericaWhere now?This week I highlight three diverse stories from the American continent, which in different ways indicate the growing confusion besetting the evangelical movement. Politics?First, there is the story running in the Colorado Springs Gazette, published on January 7 2007, concerning the new situation for evangelicals in Colorado Springs. For years, the city has been dubbed ‘the evangelical Mecca’ or ‘the evangelical Vatican’, host to the massively influential ‘Focus on the Family’ ministry of Dobson, and the, until his recent moral demise, charismatic ministry of mega-church leader, Ted Haggard. Last summer, Ted Haggard sat in his book-lined office at New Life Church, smiled, and said: ‘It’s happened. My whole vision has happened.’ But now, as reported in EN, Haggard has been discredited, and the political connections of the evangelical elite with the Republican Party have suffered a trouncing at the polls. Dobson travelled far and wide in support of Republican candidates, but the Democrats took control of Congress. Dobson blamed the party; pundits blamed social conservatives like Dobson. But the real story is that the evangelical-Republican alliance looks shaky. Evangelism?Second, a study, put together for Facts & Trends magazine by Ellison Research of Phoenix of 811 Protestant senior pastors nationwide, has been released by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Participants were asked about the activities their church held over the last year specifically relating to evangelism, as well as what types of community outreach the church offered. At first blush, the statistics look rosy, with 97% of all churches saying they are doing something specifically for the purpose of evangelism. But in fact only three types of outreach are offered by a majority of US Protestant churches in a typical year: food pantry, food collection or other food-oriented donations (73%), Vacation Bible School [= Holiday Bible Club] (68%), and holiday food programmes such as Christmas or Thanks-giving baskets for poor families (65%). The traditional divide between evangelical and mainline churches persists, with the former doing more evangelism and the latter more community programmes that don’t necessarily involve evangelism. Plus ca change… Worship centre?Third, Fuller Theological Seminary in California plans to build a new high-tech worship centre to catch the wave of the contemporary worship styles that are popular in evangelical churches, we’re told. Fuller is one of America’s largest seminaries and aims to build a 35,000-square-foot complex that will house two chapels, classrooms, offices and performance facilities. The worship centre is part of a broader multi-million dollar 20-year development plan for the seminary. In the chapel, panels on the walls and ceiling are going to be moved to enhance the sound of a string orchestra. A sophisticated sound system will be able to accommodate hip-hop performers. Movies and videos could be shown on two LCD screens, and the worship centre will have rooms for composing, recording and editing performances. This is a response to the contemporary cultural reality that, according to Richard Mouw the seminary president, ‘many people who come to church browse YouTube for two hours in the morning’. In case you were wondering, this centre is going to cost $36 million. So there we have it: evangelicals are splintering. Some are scrambling to re-store their political influence. Others think food pantry is evangelism. Still others are spending millions of dollars to accommodate Christian hip hop. Who’s spending money on preaching the gospel?Josh Moody,
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