Considering the Courage to be Protestant

No, this is not my autobiography about my leaving the Roman Catholic Church.  This is a highly recommended book by David Wells.  The Courage to be Protestant: Truth-lovers, Marketers, and Emergents in the Postmodern is his latest in a series that includes No Place for Truth, God in the Wasteland and Above All Earthly Pow’rs.  It came recommended by a pastor friend (who promised to buy the book from me if I didn’t like it).

I read the first 2 books years ago while in seminary, and just after graduating.  This book is a summary of all 3 that extends beyond them to take into account all that his happened since he began writing these books well over a decade ago.

Time Magazine said “A stinging indictment of evangelicalism’s theological corruption.”  Ironically Christianity Today (which takes some abuse in this book) said, “Can serve as a catalyst for evangelical self-examination.”

I must admit, that though I often agreed with him early on I was often thinking “yeah, so what else is new?”  I found much of it merely critical (hold onto that thought).  At times I found it confusing, but I think he cleared up my confusion.  It was in the early stages of the book that I found myself wondering “is there an appropriate cultural engagement?”  I actually wrote on the bottom of a page “Is there a difference (in his mind) between giving in to consumerism and legitimate adjustments to culture?”  I think he tried to spell that out in the latter chapters of the book.

He argues, rightly I think, that Evangelicalism is in dire straits today.  The reason for this is the abandonment of theology.  First there was an abadonment of theology at the hand of the marketers who thought the way to save the church was to get rid of its “churchiness”.  Part of what they often did was dumb-down theology.  The Reveal Study revealed that Willow Creek and other church growth churches were not actually producing disciples who could sustain and extend the kingdom.  Truth also suffered at the hands of consumerism.  It was turned into a product to be consumed, rather than a life-transforming truth to be believed.

“No one should take issue with a church for being sensitive to outsiders.  On the contrary, this is simply about being considerate.  Every church should put itself in the shoes of an outsider who visits for the first time, who knows nothing about Christian faith, and who is introduced to it in this first visit.”

I served my 9 years of ministry in a community beset with consumerism.  It was a plagued churches.  People were not concerned with the truthfulness and application of truth.  They were focused on consuming- did they have the music I like, the programs I need?  It made ministry very difficult.  We tried to be “seeker sensitive”, particularly after I watched visitors unable to keep up as we shifted between the hymnal, chorus book and Order of Worship in a losing attempt to keep up.

The Emergent Church is, in part, a reaction to the ways in which “mega-churches” utilized marketing to unchurch the church.  If that was all it was, there wouldn’t be a problem.  But they too have truth issues.  They have not just sought to minister in a (post)modern culture, but have often embrace (post)modern beliefs about truth.  They have also tended to embrace the individualization and privitization of faith foisted upon us by secularism.

I didn’t bump into this issue very much.  But I’m finding the type of reaction against the church by people fed up with superficiality, powerstruggles and observing no substantial difference in lifestyle between Christians and their neighbors.

Wells also spends time outlining the shift in theology to the therapeutic, and the new man-centered spirituality often offered as the gospel.  This I have seen, most often in church growth-type churches trying to “give the people what they want.”  It has created a deadly form of moralism that caters to the flesh.

Wells spends time outlining how these 3 trends have affected what the Evangelical church says about God, self, Christ and the Church.  What we are left with, as a result, is the kind of “evangelicalism” that is an embarrassment not because it preached Christ and Him crucified, but more because of what it has substituted in His place- the inordinate love of wealth, country, affirmation etc.- which has produced an impotent, country club political movement worthy only of being lampooned on SNL.

“Some of my critics have said that my books have all been about this kind of diagnosis but that I have offereded little prescription.  It is all too negative, they say.  There is not enough that is positive.”

It is in this final chapter when he tries to lay out something positive.  What he offers is not difficult or sublime.  It is for the church to return to the proper marks of the church- gospel preaching, sacraments and church discipline.  It doesn’t sound difficult, but it is very much swimming against the flow- against the world, the flesh and the devil.  As a result, it undermines our desire to be accepted by the world.

In addressing preaching he says “best of all is to hear sermons that arise from a biblical text and then bring that truth into the center of life as we know it today.”  He is not pitting relevance against truth.  He is talking about truth applied to real life.  In this way the gospel addresses the numerous and prevalent problems of our day.  One of the realities of the “church being the church” is that the church is supposed to teach doctrine, and in such a way that it transforms lives.  This is what has been missing in the Evangelical church- a commitment to specific truthes AND a commitment to shape our lives in accordance with those truths.

This book is not for everyone.  Wells is a bit heavy at times.  The average evangelical will probably think “what is he talking about?”  In a sense Wells presupposes the very knowledge he now admits to having over-estimated in the past.  He thought such basic doctrine and Christian worldview was more prevelant than it really is.  this is what makes it so important for pastors and church planters to take this call so seriously and begin to recapture a ministry grounded in, and communicating, truth.