‘Civilizational erasure’ and Evangelicalism’s future

Some of us will remember the old Orange mobile phone advert from the turn of the millennium: “The future’s bright, the future’s Orange.” The future did not, as it turned out, belong to Orange. But can it still be bright?

There is no doubt that Britain, like many of its neighbours, is afflicted by several overlapping crises. Pause for a moment and consider the state of our hospitals, our schools, our prisons, our armed forces, our borders, our economy, our collective mental health, and our social cohesion, and the picture becomes clear enough. And all this before we turn to the present condition of the Church of England. The skies all around us seem to be darkening. Recent remarks from the White House about “civilisational erasure” in Europe prompted the predictable response: what manner of incendiary rhetoric is this? Yet one cannot help wondering whether the proverbial frog in the water is quite as comfortable as it imagines, unaware that the temperature is still rising.

At the same time, we have been hearing a good deal about the so-called “Quiet Revival”: a renewed interest in Christianity and churchgoing, particularly among Millennials and Gen Z. Whatever the data ultimately shows, it does seem that many younger people feel aimless and rootless, and are therefore searching for ultimate reality – something enchanting, durable, and transcendent. There is a hunger for something far deeper and more substantial than the thin, individualistic, reductionist, “Help, I missed my Quiet Time” version of Christianity.

These circumstances pose particular challenges for those of us – myself included – who still claim, and indeed value, the label “evangelical.” Where does Evangelicalism go from here? One very specific danger, already well entrenched across the Atlantic and now threatening the church in the UK, is tribalism. In certain circles, to be a Christian – and especially to be an “evangelical” – increasingly appears to mean subscribing to a defined set of cultural norms, holding the correct opinions, following the approved public figures, and voting for the acceptable political parties. One identifies with one tribe and instinctively distrusts, or dismisses, everything associated with another.

This forces an uncomfortable but necessary self-examination. Where do my deepest and most fundamental convictions actually come from? I need to drill down far enough to see whether they rest on godly and Biblical first principles, or whether they are shaped by upbringing, hearsay, prejudice, the influence of a persuasive leader, or mere temperament. My attachment to certain unshakeably strong views may, at root, be more emotional than reasonable, more instinctive than genuinely spiritual.

Of course, it may be that after such self-scrutiny I still hold many of those convictions. I may examine my foundations and find them sound. That is fine. There are hills on which I must be prepared to die, and hills on which I will gladly fight. But there are also hills I am content to leave alone. And I certainly have no right to “unchurch” a professing believer simply because his or her views do not align precisely with mine. Any form of tribalism – tribal right, tribal left, or even tribal centre – within the Church of God is a tragedy, because the Lord Jesus Christ has only one Body and one Bride.

What is needed, then, is not a furtive glance to the left or the right, but an upward gaze. The unity we need can exist only if we are all facing in the same direction. The Lord Jesus Christ said that His true family – His “brother and sister and mother” – were those happily seated around Him, hanging onto His every word, those who sought to do the will of God (Mark 3v34-35). The nearer we all draw to Jesus, the more we behold His glory (John 1v14), and the more we are conformed to His likeness.

We know that the present form of this world is passing away (1 Cor. 7 v31). “Civilisational erasure” has happened in the past, and why should present-day Western Europe be immune from such a demise? But even though heaven and earth will pass away, the words of Jesus will not (Matt. 24 v35), so we can be confident that the Lord will always have a people on earth to praise Him. And for this reason alone, the future is indeed bright!