Evangelicalism in England 1935-1995

Oliver Barclay's history of evangelicalism in the UK over the last 60 years, was published last month by IVP. In this extract, he draws lessons for today.

What, then, of the present and the future? The portion of history I have sketched suggests strongly that evangelicalism will not advance by cultural and intellectual compromise, as advocated in the Liberal Evangelical tradition. Nor will it advance by reliance on extrabiblical 'guidance', as in the Oxford Group/MRA.
In the 1990s, we are faced with some of the same temptations as they were in the 1930s. It is again a very difficult time for the churches, and it is attractive to try to find some new theological emphases that resonate with the current culture. The danger is that, as many evangelicals did then, we should either compromise the truth or dilute it to a point where there is little biblical substance left. In a human-centred and experience-oriented generation that is earnestly seeking feel-good factors, it is not so easy to declare a word from God that is more than just the best and most attractive idea to our generation. When our hearers are human-centred, it is easy to follow them and to cease to be God-centred.
If we, quite rightly, recognise some good in the culture and thinking of non-Christians and of other Christian traditions, then we need to be even better informed doctrinally if we are to discern the good from the evil and not to swallow them both together. The old clear-cut positions were in the short run easier to maintain in a simple way, but things are not all black and white and in the long run that position resulted in the loss of many of the more thinking young evangelicals. It is almost certain to do so again if there is not a good foundation in biblical teaching of some depth.

A divided future?

There are two main streams emerging in the evangelical community, and this division may prove more fundamental in its long-term effects than any other. It runs right across denominational distinctions, charismatic and non-charismatic divisions and any special-interest and party groupings. It is between those who make the Bible effectively, and not only theoretically, the mainstay of their ministry, and those who do not. Those who seek to clarify, teach and apply the Bible's message as their controlling principle and as the daily sustenance of the individual will, if this period of history is any indication, produce strong Christians who are able to grapple with all kinds of issues in life, and to face the really tough experiences when they come. Those who fail to use the Bible in this way are almost certain to produce vulnerable Christians or painfully dependent people, who dare not move out from the particular congregation where they have been supported unless they can go somewhere else where they will be equally propped up.
Exposure to a new cultural and intellectual atmosphere or a personal crisis will find them weak.

The doctrine of God

Experiences that chime in with the present culture may be good, or they may not. The Bible, however, as the Holy Spirit's chosen method of guiding the church throughout time, has outlived a thousand generations of different experiences and influences. As Peter reminds us, leaders, even church leaders, come and go 'like grass', while 'the word of the Lord stands for ever' (1 Peter 1.24-25). A stress on experiences has too easily become human centred. Unless our faith is truly centred on God and on what he has revealed of himself and 'his ways', we shall be swept off our feet by every latest fad of television culture and the chase for pious feel-good factors. That means that ministry today has to be willing to teach, and to make attractive, the great truths that are so carefully expounded in the more doctrinal parts of the gospels and letters, as well as in the Old Testament. Many failures are due to the lack of a proper doctrine of God.
John Stott writing in 1990 on Paul's preaching to the Athenians, as recorded in Acts 17, comments: 'We learn from Paul that we cannot preach the gospel of Jesus without the doctrine of God, or the cross without creation, or salvation without judgment.'

Biblical core

One feature of the 1990s that is an enormous gain over the period of the 1930s is that there is a much larger core of biblically based and well-thought-out classical evangelical preaching and teaching, seeking to love God with all the heart, soul, strength and mind. Much of it has greater doctrinal depth than it had in the pre-war period, and provides the main engine of evangelical church life. If we can resist the temptations to drift off to the right or the left, or to rest in the confidence of our relative success, classical evangelicalism should remain the backbone of evangelical life in the future. If we fail, on the one hand it could become unhelpfully academic or careless of biblical authority so as to tempt both liberalism and cultural compromise. On the other, it could become so weak in biblical content and in favour of a superficial 'spirituality' that it is driven by every 'wind of teaching' (Ephesians 4.14) or immediately fashionable idea.
The basic core is, however, stronger, more widespread and more understanding of the times than it has been for a long time. There are varieties of emphasis within it, and that is not unhealthy, so long as the appeal is always to the Bible as the final authority in faith and conduct and the Bible is really brought to bear on daily life. It was said of the early 19th-century evangelicals (e.g. Wilberforce and Shaftesbury) that they 'out-thought and out-lived' their contemporaries. Biblically-informed Christians should be able to do so again.
What no-one can predict is whether there will be a strong enough core to build on the gains that have been made. It will be essential to keep the central truths central - 'to keep the fundamentals fundamental', as it has been repeatedly expressed. Only so will evangelical strength and unity be maintained and increased. It must also be said that, if we want to grow in influence, we must beware of self congratulation and be marked by being a people who truly depend on God, as shown by our prayerfulness. As Psalm 127:1 warns us: 'Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labour in vain.'
It is of doubtful value to seek evangelical unity as an end in itself, and recent efforts to do so have not succeeded greatly. Unity is important chiefly insofar as it creates a united witness to the great biblical revelation, so that the world can hear a clear message presented in a fitting way by both word and life when generally, in public, there is confusion as to what the message is. That requires basic agreement in doctrine. Evangelicalism is essentially distinguished from other Christian positions by a doctrinal stance derived from the Bible. We shall find unity not in our varied experiences but in the Word of God.

Reconquest is possible

It is not at all original to point out that, when Joshua was commissioned to undertake the greatest reconquest in the history of Israel, he was not given a course in management, leadership, military strategy or other no doubt useful disciplines. He was, rather, told to mediate on the law day and night, and not to turn from obedience to it to the right or to the left, so that he might be successful wherever he went (Joshua 1). In the same way, Psalm 1, after describing the ungodly as those who walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the way of sinners and sit in the seat of mockers, describes the godly in terms of just one feature. They are those whose delight is in the law of the Lord so that they meditate on it day and night and 'whatever they do prospers'. The New Testament is equally clear that the great secret of spiritual blessing and effectiveness is to be controlled by the revelation entrusted to the apostles and given to us in the Bible.
It is easy to be distracted from giving and accepting a good biblical diet by all sorts of relative side-issues. There are important lessons to be learned by the evangelical community from these sixty years. One of the most important is that we must improve the biblical input at both the simplest level and at the most sophisticated. This is the essential life-blood of all apostolic Christianity, and that is what genuine evangelicalism aspires to become.
All down the centuries God has blessed the recovery of biblical truth, and we cannot expect to find a greater blessing in anything else. There must be commitment to biblical Christianity in dependence on the Holy Spirit to enable us to understand the Bible, and to apply its teaching to ourselves and to the hearts and minds of believers and unbelievers alike. Given that foundation, it should be possible to recapture for a more nearly biblical position much more of the life and thought of the churches and, from there, of the life and thought of the community.
It will not be easy, but we cannot aim for less. We must pray for that, and work in genuine dependence upon the God who alone is able to bring it about.

From Evangelicalism in Britain 1935-1995 (IVP, 1997), with permission.

© Evangelicals Now - December 1997
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