By Chaplain Mike

There is no doubt that Christianity is undergoing a sea change. The recent and ongoing rhubarb over Rob Bell is yet another example of evangelicalism’s identity crisis.

In a few weeks, we here at Internet Monk will be reviewing Michael Spencer’s classic series of articles on, “The Coming Evangelical Collapse.” I encourage you to go back and read through these insightful posts in preparation for the discussion to come.

In the meantime, conversations continue all over the web. Last week we pointed you to Jimmy Spencer’s sense that a split in the evangelical movement is imminent, and Jonathan Fitzgerald’s counter that evangelicalism is in an ongoing state of erosion, not schism. Scot McKnight raised the question of a potential major split at his blog and pointed to some of the ways people are answering that question. From the New Reformed perspective, Kevin DeYoung suggests that these kinds of doctrinal disputes probably won’t divide evangelicalism, but may prove that we are already divided.

Rachel Held Evans has offered her perspective in a post called, “The Future of Evangelicalism—A Twenty-Something’s Perspective.” I encourage you to go to her blog and read the entire article.

Then come back and we will discuss her predictions, which I’ve included below.

So my first prediction is that in the next few years the evangelical community will engage in a serious conversation about the Bible. And I suspect that that will be the tipping point McKnight asks about. Let’s pray that this conversation will be as civil and as loving as possible.

My second prediction is that the so-called “new evangelicals” will in large part drop the evangelical label. We don’t like labels to begin with, and evangelicalism already carries a lot of political and theological baggage. Some will head to mainline churches, others will rediscover the rich history of the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, and some will leave Christianity altogether. Still others will remain evangelical in spirit, but without the label—opting instead for “non-denominational” or simply “follower of Jesus.”

My third prediction is that the word “evangelical” will go the way of “fundamentalism” as its adherents become increasingly homogonous and as the word becomes associated with dogmatism regarding politics, science, women’s roles, homosexuality, salvation, and biblical literalism.

THAT IS UNLESS my generation—both Reformed and emerging/progressive evangelicals—decide to intentionally preserve the diversity of our tradition, stop launching personal attacks, and move forward together. …

…I haven’t lost hope in the future of evangelicalism, but I’ve lost the desire to fight for my place in it. I’m tired of trying to convince other Christians that I am a Christian. As Dan and I enter that stage of life when we will likely start a family, we want to raise our kids in a community of Christ-followers where diversity is celebrated, questions are welcomed, and differences are handled with love and respect…not flippant “farewells.”

We want to get busy, get our hands dirty, start serving and growing and changing the world. This may very well lead us to the mainline, or perhaps to something associated with the Anabaptist tradition, or perhaps to something very similar to evangelicalism….but without the label.