Evangelical critiques evangelicalism

Warren Cole Smith is an evangelical journalist who has just published a book entitled A Lover’s Quarrel with the Evangelical Church. He summarized his quarreling points in an interview with

The Charlotte Observer:

Among his more provocative charges: “For the sake of money and power and status and celebrity … we’ve made ‘church’ easy. We’ve made being a card-carrying member of the evangelical movement easy. But being a disciple of Jesus in the early 21st century is hard and, for the most part, the evangelical church doesn’t teach us how to do that.”

Smith, who attends Presbyterian Church in America-affiliated StoneBridge Church, told me he’s not in favor of destroying the evangelical movement, just reforming it. Call him an Orthodox evangelical.

For starters, he’s put off by what he calls the sterile look of modern evangelical churches.

“You see PowerPoint presentations, projection systems. You’ve got to spend an hour looking in the cubbies to find a cross or an altar,” he said. “We have, in the space of 20 years, almost completely discarded the historic symbols of Christianity.”

Smith is also no fan of the latest practice in some churches: Twittering. Typing a mini-message into your BlackBerry may give the pastor feedback on his sermon, Smith said, but it also turns the congregation into an audience. He’d prefer his fellow evangelicals join in the recitation of the Apostles Creed or extend a handshake of peace to a pew-mate.

“The liturgy understands that humans need to actively participate and not be spectators,” Smith said.

Contemporary Christian music?

He’ll take the time-tested hymns of yesteryear any day. When evangelical churches sing spiritually shallow “Jesus is my boyfriend” songs, Smith said, they are following the lead of today’s Christian radio listeners, rather than the theologically astute composers of old.

“Music in church is not meant to make us feel good. It’s to bring glory to God and be part of the teaching ministry of the church,” Smith said. “Those (hymns) have been vetted by the best theological minds of the last 200 years.” . . .

So how would Smith save evangelicalism?

Among his answers: Make pastors accountable to deacon or elder boards. Urge churchgoers to discover the vocation God is calling them to. Recover face-to-face community. Develop a stronger sense of history. Plant new churches. And avoid easy answers.

“I’m not saying that I’ve got all the answers,” Smith concluded. “But I am saying we have a rich biblical Christian tradition that has given us many, many good answers. We’ve forgotten them. Let’s try to recover them.”