Part I ended with Os Guinness’ words which call for individual Christians and the church “…to regain the courage of “prophetic untimeliness” and develop the art of “resistance thinking” and so become followers of Jesus who have the courage to become “untimely people” despite the mesmerizing lure of the present age and its fixation with the future.”[1] But resistance must be preceded by an accurate assessment of the condition of the church, recognition of the nature of the mesmerizing lure of the spirit of the age, and how that spirit has wheedled its way into the church.

The evangelical church in America and much of Western civilization is in a deplorable state and declining. George Barna[2] and the American Culture and Faith Institute (ACFI)[3] recently surveyed the religious trends in America, and the results were shocking. The first survey was a nationwide random sample of one thousand adult respondents 18 or older whose demographic profile reflects that of the United States. The second was a national public opinion survey of a sample of five hundred clergy who are part of ACFI’s panel of theologically conservative pastors. Both surveys were conducted in February 2017, and the results revealed the following trends:

• Church attendance is down.
• Professions of faith are at low levels compared to the past.
• As a result the decline of professions of faith, there also is a declining percentage of born-again Christians.
• The number of people who label themselves Christians is falling.
• Participation in small groups has dropped by half in less than a decade.
• There is the same pattern of decline in adult Sunday School involvement.
• Bible reading is less common.
• The number of adults who pray to God has decreased significantly in recent years.[4]

Barna states that the likely reason for the above trends is that Christians, including many Bible-believing pastors, do not share the fundamental elements of their faith with non-believers. This lack of witness has occurred because the level of their faith and relationship with Jesus Christ is not sufficiently exciting to cause them to do so.[5]

The trends in the American church shown above are confirmed by a summary of the raw data from the surveys in the areas of (1) a Christian’s personal responsibility to share the gospel, (2) the Christian’s level of engagement in evangelism, and (3) the message shared with non-Christians.

Do Christians have a personal responsibility to share their faith in Christ with others who believe differently?

Only two of every ten adults surveyed (20%) believe they have a personal responsibility to share their faith with others who believe differently. This result is for all adults surveyed, not just Christians. But what was surprising, only 25% of those surveyed who call themselves Christian believe they have that responsibility. Within this sub-group of people who identify themselves as Christians, 31% of Protestants and 17% of Catholics believe they have the personal responsibility to share their faith.[6]

In a parallel survey among a national sample of theologically conservative Protestant pastors, 73% believe they have a personal responsibility to share their faith with others who believe differently.” The results of the survey of these pastors revealed some variations based on denomination: Baptist church pastors (90%), Pentecostal (69%), and Holiness (76%).[7]

Engagement in evangelism

The low percentage of Christians that believe they have a responsibility to share their faith with others who believe differently is consistent with the low percentage of those who actually engage in evangelism. Only 23% shared their personal faith on a monthly basis. However, many of those sharing their faith were not Christians or professed to be Christians but shared a distorted gospel message not consistent with the Bible. The survey found that 71% of theologically conservative Protestant pastors shared the gospel at least once a month with others who believed differently.[8]

What message is given by those who share the gospel?

Based on the results of the survey, ACFI found that less than 10% of those who actually shared a message about their faith with other people at least once a month during the previous year actually presented a biblically accurate proclamation of the Gospel. In other words, only one in ten American adults has a biblical worldview.

Those who presented a faulty presentation of the gospel do not have a basic understanding of Christianity including the purpose and implications of Christ’s death and resurrection. The survey lists several divergent ideas about Christianity that were shared with unbelievers.

• People are basically good.
• Having faith is more important than the substance of that faith.
• God exists and is omnipotent and omniscient but that humankind has evolved from other life forms.
• God is aware of what happens in the universe and is involved with our lives.
• There is absolute moral truth but it is located in various places.
• Eternal security can be assured either through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Christ or by doing enough good deeds to earn God’s favor.
• A person’s life can be considered “successful” based upon the personal goals accomplished.
• The Bible is the reliable Word of God.
• Jesus understands our struggle because He sinned while on earth.
• Sin is real but Satan and the Holy Spirit are not.[9]

While 23% of those who shared their faith at least once a month, less than 10% presented a biblically accurate version of the gospel.[10]

Barna summarized the impact of the revelations of these surveys.

A large majority of non-Christians in the US do not hear the gospel during a typical year. Worse, when they do have the Christian faith verbally presented to them, shockingly few hear a biblical form of the gospel. Because of this, it is inevitable that the most common metrics of church life and personal spiritual maturity reflect rapid declines. When the fundamental message of Christianity is rarely communicated, and then it is distorted in those infrequent situations when it is communicated, the outcome is not likely to be positive…You cannot give away what you do not possess, and clearly most Americans do not possess even a basic understanding of the Christian narrative as well as the purpose and implications of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.[11]

Barna’s “You cannot give away what you do not possess” is a stinging indictment of a pervasive biblical illiteracy that is typical within most evangelical churches in America, and here once again we are reminded of the importance of a solid biblical worldview necessary to defend the faith from the infiltration of humanism into the church.

Worldview is important because it is the mental framework one uses to cope with and make sense of the world and identify truth or reality. These perceptions of truth or reality determines how they will decide what is right or wrong, good or evil, and distinguish the truth and the false.[12]

To determine worldview, the ACFI survey evaluated the respondent’s worldview by asking forty questions that dealt with their core spiritual beliefs and behavior. The questions did not deal with theological theories but centered on the respondents’ attitudes and behaviors regarding basic biblical concepts such as lying, cheating, stealing, pornography, nature of God, and the consequences of unresolved sin.[13]

The results of the survey revealed that although seven out of ten Americans claim to be Christian, only 46% of Americans claimed to have a biblical worldview. But, the results of the survey indicate that only about 10% of the general public were “integrated disciples” by which is meant that they had “a biblical worldview based on integrating their beliefs and behavior into a lifestyle that reflects foundational biblical principles.” Other results of the survey found that only 4% of the Millennials (18-29 years old) were “integrated disciples.” Almost one-third (32%) of all American adults claimed to be theologically conservative, but only one-fourth of that group qualified as “integrated disciples.”[14]

Barna states that if someone claims to be a Christian but their behavior does not reflect those beliefs, “it is doubtful that they believe what they really claim to believe.”[15] It would appear there are many reasons for this disconnection between beliefs and actions. One reason is that some people are “hereditary” Christians, e.g., “My mother was a Christian, so I identify myself as a Christian” or as many in other parts of the world assume, “You are an American. Therefore, you are a Christian.” A second group claims to be Christian because they are nominally members of a recognized church that for various reasons may not lead their adherents into becoming “integrated disciples.” Whatever the reasons for the disconnection between beliefs and actions, the American evangelical church as a whole has been woefully negligent in producing “integrated disciples” since the 1960s and which accounts for the declining trends in the health of the church including lack of biblical literacy among the congregants and the scarcity of “integrated disciples.”

Having recognized the damage caused by the mesmerizing lure of the present age that has significantly weakened the church, Part III will examine the causes that have led to the church’s powerlessness.

Larry G. Johnson

Sources:

[1] Os Guinness, Prophetic Untimeliness-A Challenge to the Idol of Relevance, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2003), p. 20.
[2] George Barna, “National Surveys Describe the State of Christian Evangelism,” American Culture Review, American Culture and Faith Institute, March 22, 2017.
https://www.culturefaith.com/national-surveys-describe-the-state-christian-evangelism/ (accessed March 23, 2017).
[3] Ibid., The American Culture and Faith Institute is a division of United in Purpose, a non-partisan, non-profit organization. The mission of United in Purpose is to educate, motivate and activate conservative Christians to engage in cultural transformation in ways that are consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The organization does not support or promote individual political candidates or parties.
[4] Barna, “National Surveys Describe the State of Christian Evangelism,” March 22, 2017.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] George Barna, “Groundbreaking ACFI Survey Reveals How Many Adults Have a Biblical Worldview,” American Culture and Faith Institute, February 27, 2017.
https://www.culturefaith.com/groundbreaking-survey-by-acfi-reveals-how-many-american-adults-have-a-biblical-worldview/ (accessed March 28, 2017).
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.

Satan hates God. Satan was cast out of heaven because of his pride in his position and his beauty rose to the point of placing himself on the level of God. As a result of his rebellion, Satan was not only demoted and stripped of every precious stone that was his covering, he was cast out of heaven. So Satan really hates God. It is a vicious, snarling, consuming hatred—something almost beyond our human ability to comprehend. But Satan had no power to strike back at God directly. His only alternative was to strike at God by robbing the Creator of His relationship with man—His special creation.

Humanism’s opposition to God’s plan for mankind encompasses all of human history. The humanistic spirit of the world is of satanic origin and has been present within human society since Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden. All through history, this humanistic spirit of the world is the spirit of rebellion of man against God. It is the essence of Original Sin that infects all of humanity.

In the eleventh century BC, King David wrote, “The fool hath said in his heart: there is no god.” [Psalm 14:1. KJV] But it was the Greeks of the fourth through sixth centuries BC that gave form and body to the man-made philosophy of humanism that would impact the world second only to Jesus Christ. Carried to its conclusion, humanism denies the existence of God for Nature is all there is. And all of life on earth including man is the product of Nature’s long evolutionary process that occurred by chance and was devoid of a supernatural Creator. Man is not fallen and in no need of a redeemer for man is master of his own destiny as he strives for happiness, freedom, and progress in this life for there is no life after death. Truth is whatever man wants it to be to address the needs of the moment. Truth is relative and is not some infallible standard beyond time by which man must be guided. As a result, moral values and concepts of right and wrong must be based on human experience and therefore are autonomous and situational.

The civilization of ancient Greece has fascinated mankind for 2,500 years. Philosophy, politics, much of arithmetic and geometry, and several categories of Western art were invented in an amazingly short four centuries by the Hellenes, the ancient Greeks.[1] In the early sciences, rhetoric, warfare, and grace of manners, the Greeks far excelled all civilized peoples who came before. The incalculable influence of those four centuries of Greek life and thought throughout the world has lasted to the present day where it spreads its tentacles throughout the modern Western world. Greek culture was divided into two periods: the Classical period which ended with Alexander the Great’s death in 323 BC was preoccupied with the ideal. However, the succeeding Hellenistic period (323 BC – 146 BC) was concerned with reality, that is, “relating the exploits of gods, heroes, and common mortals to everyday life and familiar emotions.”[2]

The culture wars are not of recent origin but extend far back into man’s history. It is a battle of worldviews between Christianity and humanism expressed through the humanistic spirit of the world. Dietrich Bonhoeffer called humanism or the Greek spirit the greatest danger to Christianity since its beginning.[3]

The spread of the ideas, culture, customs, and philosophy of humanism of the ancient Greeks is called Hellenization. Much of the ancient Greeks’ early efforts to Hellenize the world were done at the point of a sword, and the Jewish people were not exempted. One of the most famous stories of resistance to Greek Hellenization was the Maccabean Revolt recorded in the writings of Eusebius and Clement and in the Septuagint within a few decades of the actual events. [The Septuagint includes the Apocrypha which is not a part of the Jewish Old Testament or Protestant New Testament. However, the Apocrypha is included in the Catholic Bible.]

The events of the Maccabean Revolt are recorded in the first book of the Maccabees. The story begins with Antiochus Epiphanes, a Seleucid king whose empire was based in northern Syria and whose culture was primarily of Greek origin. He was one of the successors of Alexander the Great. Antiochus’ empire stretched southward into Judea which had been incorporated Judea as part of his empire when his father (Antiochus III) defeated the Egyptians in 198 BC.[4] Judea was important because it was the southern border of Antiochus’ kingdom and the front line with his Egyptian enemies that lay to the west.

Antiochus III attempted to Hellenize the Jews but eventually backed down. But his son reinstated his father’s program of Hellenization and outlawed the central tenets of Judaism including observance of the Sabbath and circumcision. Antiochus also defiled the Temple by opening it to non-Jews, erecting an altar to the god Zeus, and sacrificing swine.[5] Many Jews succumbed to the cultural imperatives of Greek Hellenism, but some chose to resist unto death.

The story begins when a local Greek official attempted to force Mattathias to make a sacrifice to a Pagan god. Following the murder of the Greek official, Antiochus directed many reprisals against the Jews, but many resisted. From their village of Modi‘in located a few miles northwest of Jerusalem, Mattathias and his five sons became leaders of the resistance against Antiochus and fought for the liberation of the Jews. Mattathias soon died, but the revolt continued under his son Judah called Maccabeus which means “the Hammer” in Hebrew. Antiochus responded by sending a powerful army to put down the insurrection. But after three years of this David versus Goliath battle, Jerusalem was recaptured by the Maccabees and the Temple purified in 164 BC.[6]

Some believe that early Christianity was essentially “Hellenized” at its birth, a product of the significant influence of the Hellenistic thought and culture on the newly arrived Christian faith.[7] Russell Kirk (writing from a Catholic perspective) stated that, “…Hellenic thought had been woven inextricably into the fabric of Christian teaching, so that it was next to impossible to distinguish Judaic threads from Greek…”[8] More correctly stated, it was elements of Platonic thought rightly understood that intersected and were consistent with Christian teaching and doctrine. This leads only to an appearance of integration between the two. Although one may accept the importance of Greek cultural influences on early Christianity (the New Testament was written in Greek), Christians vigorously defend the source for Christian tradition and doctrine as the inspired word of God revealed to the Hebrews and later to the Apostles. Christian faith and teaching is not an offshoot of Greek Hellenization whose philosophy of humanism is diametrically opposed to the revelation of God to the Hebrews and New Testament doctrines of the Christian church. This contrast is evident in Paul’s sermon to the Greeks at Mars’ Hill.

Although humanism was a constant enemy of Christianity from the first century, it became rooted within church doctrine during the thirteenth century. Just as he did with Eve, Satan began whispering in the ears of the Churchmen. His scheme was to redefine the condition of fallen man, and Satan used the philosophy of the ancient Greeks to do it. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) revered the 4th century B.C. Greek philosopher Aristotle. Through study of Aristotle’s writings, Aquinas believed that man revolted against God and was fallen but not completely. He believed man’s will was fallen but not the intellect. Therefore, in addition to the Bible, men could rely on human wisdom as well as the teachings of non-Christian philosophers.[9]

Through Aquinas’ efforts, elements of Aristotle’s non-Christian philosophy and other church traditions were accepted by the church as a source of authority alongside the Bible. Because Aquinas’s unfallen human reason was now autonomous and equal to scripture, more and more of the pronouncements of the church were based on pagan Greek and Roman philosophies. Eventually those pronouncements became more important than many teachings of the Bible. Human reason was now autonomous, but unhooking human reason from biblical revelation created a fundamental problem. If one starts with man’s ideas and reason as opposed to the absolutes found in the Bible, fixed standards for determining values, morals, law, and truth no longer have meaning and truth descends into relativism. This is pure, undiluted humanism.[10]
______

All through man’s time on planet earth, his story is awash with Satan’s attempts to destroy him by subverting the truth of the God’s Word through the humanistic spirit of the world as described above. But in every age there have been men of God who spoke truth and stood firm in the face of overwhelming opposition from apostate churches and pagan cultures of their age.

Os Guinness described these men as possessing a “prophetic untimeliness”—independent thinkers out of step with the conventional wisdom of their generation. These were men of great discernment, vision, having a different perspective and commitment, and not at home in the age in which they lived. Not all such men who possess independent thinking are guided by eternal truths as revealed by God. Where such occurs, the independence of their thinking will be misguided, flawed, and ultimately lead to failure or corruption. But for the man who follows God, the foundation for their independent thinking is anchored in the truth of the His eternal Word and not his or her “genius or social stubbornness.”[11]

Having succumbed to the siren song of the humanistic spirit of the age, the modern church has largely been overwhelmed with the quest for relevance and reinvention to accomplish Christ’s mission but at the cost of faithfulness to Jesus Christ. This has occurred because the church has failed to balance the twin commands of Christ—“go ye into all the world” and “be ye separate.” In most of today’s churches the “going” into the world has far surpassed “separation” from the world. For many, this “going” has come to mean being culturally relevant through accommodation of the spirit of the world within the church. In other words, the world has evangelized the church instead of the other way around.

But where are those prophetically untimely men and women in our present age? There are a few such men and women in Western civilization who are ringing the bell of truth, but not many are heard. Their messages are being muffled under the din emanating from an inward-turned modern world consumed with the moment while ignoring the eternal. Thus, these messengers of truth have been reduced to being a voice “crying in the wilderness” because Christian pacifists and false teachers in the culture wars hold the microphone and dominate the platform. Guinness believes there should be more Christians who develop the trait of prophetic untimeliness.

The answer…is to regain the courage of “prophetic untimeliness” and develop the art of “resistance thinking” and so become followers of Jesus who have the courage to become “untimely people” despite the mesmerizing lure of the present age and its fixation with the future.[12]

The church needs many more faithful Christians with the art of “resistance thinking.” Such thinking correctly balances the “go ye” with the “be ye separate” and requires a stubborn awareness of the elements of the contemporary age that don’t fit with the Christian message. Where the gospel is easy, comfortable, and a natural fit with the prevailing self-centered humanistic spirit of the age, then its demands for self-denial and sacrifice are not present and neither is the true gospel of Jesus Christ.[13]

In the remainder of this series on resistance thinking, we will examine the current dismal state of evangelicalism, the causes, and the cure through development of the art of resistance thinking.

Larry G. Johnson

Sources:

[1] Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2010), p. 85.
[2] J. M. Roberts, The New History of the World, (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 211.
[3] Marcus Cowper, History Book-An Interactive Journey, (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2010), pp. 20-21.
[4] Steven H. Werlin, “The Maccabean Revolt: Between Tradition and History,” Society of Biblical Literature, https://www.sbl-site.org/assets/pdfs/TB5_Maccabees_SW.pdf (accessed March 27, 2017).
[5] “The Maccabees/Hasmoneans: History and Overview (166-129 BCE),” Jewish Virtual Library, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/history-and-overview-of-the-maccabees (accessed March 27, 2017).
[6] Ibid.
[7] John Herman Randall, Jr., The Making of the Modern Mind, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1927, 1940), p. 46.
[8] Russell Kirk, The Roots of American Order, (Washington, D.C.: Regnery Gateway, 1991), p. 74.
[9] Francis A Schaffer, How Then Shall We Live? (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 1976), pp. 51-52.
[10] Ibid., pp. 52, 55.
[11] Os Guinness, Prophetic Untimeliness-A Challenge to the Idol of Relevance,” (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2003), pp. 19-20.
[12] Ibid., p. 20.
[13] Ibid.

In Part I, Dr. Charles Crabtree identified three causes of the crisis of discipleship in the Assemblies of God. These causes have affected virtually all denominations. The causes have been profoundly debilitating to the liberal mainline denominations for most of a century, but the causes have also invaded non-mainline evangelical churches in varying degrees since the 1960s.

Dr. Crabtree identified the three causes of the crisis in discipleship as preaching another gospel, the failure to count the cost of discipleship, and a failure to continue in the Word.[1] These are not the only causes of the demise of biblical Christianity but account for much of the humanistic spirit of the world that has invaded the church. This invasion into the modern evangelical churches of America will be examined.

Preaching another gospel

When preaching no longer focuses on the cross of Christ, it becomes another gospel. And it is this other gospel that is preached and practiced by the pervasive Church Growth movement and which has been embraced by many evangelical churches in America over the last quarter century. Crabtree called this other gospel “good news for the ego” which is at the heart of the seeker-sensitive church’s message. This other gospel focuses on adding value to the temporal life of the seeker with no confrontation of seeker’s sin. This focus on the felt needs (often the product of a desperately wicked heart) produces a tendency toward universalism which requires only confessing Jesus with one’s words but does not require a change of heart or a change from a sinful life style (for everyone is going to heaven anyway). As Crabtree put it, the focus is on “making a nice person, not a new person.”[2]

The whole of the seeker-sensitive movement’s dedication to meeting the felt needs of people taps into the humanistic spirit of the world and its devotion to self. In the seeker-sensitive churches, felt needs are assumed to be legitimate but are often merely diversionary measures used by Satan and his forces to defeat the human soul. Not only does the seeker-sensitive church attempt to meet the felt needs of their audience, they also attempt to meet their felt wants. Udo W. Middelmann reveals the heart of the matter in his stinging indictment of many evangelical churches in America.

In the course of a very few decades much of the church has embraced the way of mass culture in its drive to reduce everything to play and attractive entertainment. It has bowed to the demands of a consumer society and offers a message that more often distracts for the moment than comforts for the long run. Adjustments in content and form to match the perceived needs of future possible converts eat away at the content necessary to understand God, the fall of man, and redemption. Marketing priorities preside. The product is matched to the customer’s expectations. There is little room for the doctor to prescribe the medicine or for God to set forth judgment and conditions for redemption.[3]

In seeker-sensitive preaching, there is an inherent conflict between preaching the cross of Christ and their goal of being sensitive to the feelings and needs of the unchurched. We find the correct answer to this conflict revealed in the book of Hebrews.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. [Hebrews 4:12. KJV]

When preaching the cross, it is well to remember that the Word not only accuses and cuts but comforts and dresses wounds as well.

In the seek-sensitive church world, saccharine superficial messages attempt to massage and caress felt needs without the necessity of spiritual surgery. But the Word rightly applied cuts deeply beneath felt needs to the secret sin buried in the heart of man which Jeremiah called desperately wicked and deceitful (see Jeremiah 17:9).[4]

According to Crabtree, moving from preaching another gospel back to preaching the cross of Christ will require a move of the Holy Spirit that “will bring divine revelation concerning the power of the Cross along with the resurrected Jesus, so people will say, ‘The pearl of great price is worth all the junk, all the stuff, all material riches. God is worthy.’”[5]

Failure to count the cost of discipleship

It would appear that there can be little argument that the American evangelical church has grown soft on a diet of soft-soap evangelism that tickles the ears; provides comfort, ease, and entertainment; and demands little in the way of contrition, repentance and turning from sin.

One of the brightest stars in the Church Growth movement is a purveyor of such soft-soap evangelism. He has said, “Sometimes you need to give the unbeliever some slack in order to reel them in.”[6] “Slack” in the seeker-sensitive model of doing church means attempting to entice the sinner through the church’s doors and then focusing on meeting his or her felt needs. It is hoped that over time the importance of being a Christian and its associated benefits will convince the seeker that they should “make a decision for Christ.” Thereafter, sanctification will come through listening and responding to a series of therapeutic messages designed to make them better people and thereby partake of the popularized view of Christianity known as “the good life.” The only problem with this method is that many preachers never get around to presenting the unadulterated powerful message of the cross nor allow time for the Holy Spirit to do His office work of convicting the sinner of his sin without which no man can come to Christ.[7]

This is called grace on the cheap, but it is a counterfeit grace that is leading millions to an eternity in hell. The real cost of serving Jesus is high, and a great multitude in evangelical churches across America haven’t paid the price. The high cost of following Jesus Christ always centers on the cross and is confirmed by the words of Luke and the Apostle Paul.

And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” [Luke 14:27. KJV]

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. [Galatians 2:20. KJV]

But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. [Romans 13:14. KJV]

Christ’s call to discipleship is not doing better but embracing the message of the cross, dying to self, and living the resurrection life which will result in true sanctification.

Failure to continue in the Word

Luke described the necessity of continuing in the Word. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” [Acts2:42. NIV]
Many people truly find Christ as their Savior and Lord, are baptized in the Holy Spirit, and become part of a local fellowship of believers. However, they never truly live productive, fruitful, and victorious lives. Crabtree believes that the third cause of ineffective discipleship is a failure to continue in the Word.[8]

The evangelical church has exhibited a marked decline in biblical literacy in the last decades of the twentieth century which continues to the present day. As used here, biblical literacy means familiarity with the Bible and its central themes and teachings. There are several reasons consistent with the humanistic spirit of the age that account for the decline of biblical literacy.

• Significant abandonment of devotional reading and Bible study among evangelicals of all ages.
• De-emphasis or complete elimination of a weekly Sunday morning Sunday school.
• Discontinuance of children and youth organizations within the church that promote scripture memorization and biblical knowledge.
• Significant decline in expository preaching as preachers began emphasizing the therapeutic realm of personal relationships and feelings. The decline in expository preaching has also led to a drift away from constant and thematic biblical preaching and teaching of the great organizing themes of the Bible such as the nature and character of God; the creation, fall, and redemption; the historical narratives of the Old and New Testaments; the Christian walk in a hostile world, and prophetic and end-time events.
• Decline in number of sermons that Christians hear from the pulpit. Thirty or forty years ago, the average evangelical church member would hear three or more messages preached each week compared to perhaps one each week at present. The church has replaced many regular preaching services with small group meetings and other religious activities that do not provide a consistent exposition of the Bible.
• Decline in regular attendance of church members at services where a message is preached.
• Replacement of hymns with their explicit doctrine-laced biblical themes with more contemporary, personalized themes.[9]

Ten years ago, Crabtree express great hope for the implementation of small groups that would change the direction of the Assemblies in curing the crisis of discipleship. Crabtree’s words from Part I are repeated here.

We will set up model churches around the country that are doing small groups within the guidelines of a Pentecostal church. We will promote our own small-group models…Sunday School will continue to be the fundamental discipleship ministry in the Assemblies of God. I am a fervent believer that Sunday School, when used properly, is the most effective discipleship tool in the American culture. Small groups and Sunday School will feed off each other.[10] [emphasis added]

The imposition of small groups has largely been a failure in accomplishing its intended purposes. It is not because small groups are not biblical by nature. Rather, the nature of the first century small group has been perverted by the seeker-sensitive ministry mindset. Small groups often abandon the guidelines of a Pentecostal church of which Crabtree spoke. Such groups have made fellowship and the breaking of bread their primary focus and failed to devote themselves to the Apostles’ doctrine and prayer. Many small groups have not followed the biblical pattern, but more importantly they have severely damaged other elements of the church which continues to undermine biblical literacy.

Crabtree fervently believes that Sunday school, when used properly, is the most effective discipleship tool in American culture. Yet, many adult Sunday school classes are replaced by small groups meeting at other times. Young couples whose Sunday school classes are eliminated because they are herded into small groups meeting at other times also do not bring their children to Sunday school.

Small groups have been used as a replacement for the irreplaceable Sunday night service which Crabtree states “is time for the church to gird itself…to rise up Monday morning…” But the New Testament pattern for small groups was never designed as a replacement for church services where preaching and teaching of the Apostles’ doctrine and prayer occurred.
______

If the church is to successfully address the causes and provide a cure for the crisis in discipleship, it must have revival. But revival will not come if the church does not forsake all by keeping one foot in the world. Revival must be preceded by the church’s contrition, repentance, and turning from sin and coupled with prayer and petition for revival. When seeking revival, A. W. Tozer’s words of six decades ago give further guidance. He said that we should look to the Bible and the great saints of the past for our directions in this modern age.

Take nothing for granted…Go back to the grass roots. Open your hearts and search the Scriptures. Bear your cross, follow your Lord and pay no heed to the passing religious vogue. The masses are always wrong. In every generation the number of the righteous is small. Be sure you are among them.[11]

Larry G. Johnson

Sources:

[1] Dr. Charles Crabtree, “Discipleship in the Assemblies of God: The Crisis, The Cause, and The Cure,” Supplement to the Enrichment Journal, Winter 2007, p. 2.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Udo W. Middelmann, The Market Driven Church, (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2004), p. 124.
[4] Larry G. Johnson, Evangelical Winter – Restoring New Testament Christianity, (Owasso, Oklahoma: Anvil House Publishers, 2016), p. 193.
[5] Crabtree, “Discipleship in the Assemblies of God,” p. 2.
[6] Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995), p. 216.
[7] Johnson, Evangelical Winter, p. 216.
[8] Crabtree, “Discipleship in the Assemblies of God,” p. 3.
[9] Johnson, Evangelical Winter, p. 189.
[10] Crabtree, “Discipleship in the Assemblies of God, p. 4.
[11] A. W. Tozer, The Root of the Righteous, (Camp Hill, Pennsylvania: WingSpread Publishers, 1955, 1986), p. 5.

Dr. Charles Crabtree served as the Assistant General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God for fourteen years. Following his tenure at the Assemblies of God headquarters in Springfield, Missouri, he became the president of Zion Bible College in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and served until 2013. Dr. Crabtree published an article in the Enrichment Journal, Winter Quarter, 2007, titled “The Crisis of Discipleship in the American Church.”[1] This article was condensed and published as a supplement titled “Discipleship in the Assemblies of God: The Crisis, The Cause, and The Cure.”[2] This was an abridgement of a message delivered the previous August at a weekly chapel service for the headquarters employees of the General Council of the Assemblies of God.

In 2007, Dr. Crabtree wrote of the crisis he saw in the Assemblies of God with regard to the three-fold purpose laid down by the fellowship’s founders.

Evangelism – 2007

Crabtree said that the state of evangelism in the Assemblies was “unremarkable.” In support of his conclusion he stated that for the period 1995-2005, the Assemblies had 5.3 million stated decisions for Christ but the growth from those conversions was just under 222,000 over ten years (4.2% conversion growth rate). Crabtree responded to those who would minimize the importance of Sunday morning attendance because it is not proof of salvation. He said, “I tell you that if a baby is not in the care of the home, that baby is either dead, lost, or in deep trouble.”[3]

Discipleship – 2007

Crabtree also saw a crisis in discipleship in the Assemblies which he called “ineffective.” He stated that within the fellowship in 2005, only one in four who decided for Christ followed up with water baptism and only one in five received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. “If we continue this trend, I project that in ten years (2017) we will have a small minority of Pentecostals in the Assemblies of God.”[4] [emphasis added]

Worship – 2007

“I believe the state of worship in the Assemblies of God has become incidental rather than pervasive.” Crabtree explained that worship is a life style. It is not a Sunday morning “incident” but “a constant, humble obedience to the Lord in all areas of life” that must occur in the life of a disciple seven days a week.[5]

Like a skilled surgeon, Dr. Crabtree cut to the heart of the crisis within the Assemblies of God in accomplishing its three-fold purpose. Next, he identified the causes.

Preaching another gospel

The reason for ineffective evangelism and discipleship in the American Protestant church including the Assemblies of God “…is the preaching of another gospel—good news for the ego. The Cross is not the central focus in a great deal of preaching.”[6]

It seems the American church says to those who pass through the doors, “You’re a good person, and the church can give you added value to the temporal life.” And it will. But this is not the primary reason the church exists. The church exists to get people ready for eternity, not for tomorrow. It is not a temporal gospel; it is an eternal gospel, and at the heart of that gospel is the Cross and true repentance.

What we have is a culture that says, “If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, that is all we are going to ask. We are not asking for a behavioral change; we want a doctrinal change. We want you to believe the way we believe, but how you act is up to you. And when you come to this church, we promise we will not confront you with sin. We will not make you feel the least bit convicted.”

I see this more and more. It is the philosophy of universalism: Confess Jesus, God will take care of the rest. Everybody is eventually going to heaven anyway. So, do not get excited. All you need to do is to be a nice person, not a new person.[7]

Failure to count the cost of discipleship

Christ said, “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” [Luke 14:27. NIV] Crabtree described what carrying one’s cross was and was not. He wrote, “Your cross is living in a hostile world and standing up to the filth, rottenness, and sin in homes, families, and workplaces, and say, ‘No sir, I am a Christian; I am a follower of Christ.’” He states that if the church soft-soaps the gospel and attempts to get by with lackadaisical discipleship, young people are not going to be drawn to something that is not challenging and worthwhile. Crabtree argues that if the church’s message presents the high cost of serving Christ, millions will respond because they are looking for something far more important that their own temporal lives.[8]

Crabtree attributes the anemic condition of the church to its work is being done by professionals and “not spirit-filled portable temples” between Sundays. “It is time for the church to gird itself on Sunday night to rise up Monday morning, and say, ‘We are going to be a strong, healthy church, and we are going to change this world through our faithfulness to God and our obedience to the Lord.’” Crabtree believes the answer to the church’s dilemma is revival which means “bringing the church back to healthy productivity” and not just being blessed.[9] [emphasis added]

Failure to continue in the word

Even though people may be saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, they never become productive Christians by which is meant they never reproduce themselves in the kingdom. According to Crabtree, this is result of a failure to continue in the word, the third cause of the crisis in discipleship within the church.

Crabtree outlined what the church must do to cure the crisis of discipleship. He states that the cure must rest on being prepared for discipleship. This is not meant to be a one-size-fits-all for individual churches will prepare for and conduct discipleship in many different ways and will be effective when the church “takes babes in Christ and disciple them into productive spiritual adults.”[10] Crabtree states that small groups should be one element of the cure.

We will set up model churches around the country that are doing small groups within the guidelines of a Pentecostal church. We will promote our own small-group models…Sunday School will continue to be the fundamental discipleship ministry in the Assemblies of God. I am a fervent believer that Sunday School, when used properly, is the most effective discipleship tool in the American culture. Small groups and Sunday School will feed off each other.[11] [emphasis added]

Crabtree concludes by stating that the heart of the cure for the crisis in discipleship must always be love…“every convert loved by somebody, not just everybody.”[12]
______

To properly assess the direction of the Assemblies of God in the United States since Charles Crabtree’s article in 2007, statistics for the period 1996-2005 has been compared with the period 2006-2015.[13}

Growth from Conversions declined from an annual average of 495,509 to 454,208 or a 41,301 decline compared to the previous ten years, a decline of 8.34%.

Sunday Morning Attendance increased from an annual average of 1,664,079 to 1,860,691 or a 196,613 increase compared to the previous ten years, an increase of 11.82%.

Water Baptisms increased from an annual average of 122,84l to125,325, an increase of 2,484 compared to the previous ten years. This represents an increase of 2.02%.

Holy Spirit Baptisms declined from an annual average of 93,097 to 84,747, a decline of 8,921 compared to the previous ten years, a decline of 8.9%.

A brief examination reveals that the Assemblies of God has not resolved their crisis of discipleship. Growth from conversions and Holy Spirit Baptisms have declined between 8% and 9% for the 2006-2015 period compared with the 1996-2005 period. And the Water Baptisms category is just barely in the black. Ten years have passed since Dr. Crabtree’s prediction that Pentecostals will be a small minority in the Assemblies of God in ten years. That decline has continued, and in 2017 it appears that in many Assemblies of God churches the Pentecostals have become the small minority.

Even though there are concerns about the direction of the Assemblies of God in recent years as identified by Charles Crabtree, its record is far superior to the great majority of evangelical denominations in the United States. A report published in March 2015 compared long-term growth of various denominations from the mid-1960s to 2012 and 2013. Of the eight primary mainline denominations, all had declining memberships, and the loss of membership in seven of the eight denominations ranged from 27% to 67%. Six of the seven primary non-mainline denominations had increases in membership ranging from the Southern Baptist Convention at 46% growth to the Church of God in Christ with 1,194%. The Assemblies of God grew from 572,000 adherents in 1965 to 3,031,000 in 2013, an increase of 430%. The report stated that although the growth of the more conservative non-mainline churches was slowing, the liberal mainline denominations were on a path to inevitable demise because of their progressive departure from biblical Christianity.[14] This observation should be a wake-up call for the non-mainline denominations with slowing growth.

In Part II, Dr. Crabtree’s causes for the crisis in discipleship in the Assemblies of God will be examined in light of the disturbing trends in all evangelical churches in the United States.

Larry G. Johnson

Sources:

[1] Dr. Charles Crabtree, “The Crisis of Discipleship in the American Church,” Enrichment Journal, Winter 2007. http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/200801/200801_022_Discipleship.cfm (accessed February 22, 2017).
[2] Dr. Charles Crabtree, “Discipleship in the Assemblies of God: The Crisis, The Cause, and The Cure,” Supplement to the Enrichment Journal, Winter 2007.
[3] Ibid., pp. 1-2.
[4] Ibid., p. 2.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid., p. 3.
[9] Ibid., p. 4.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13]The data presented was derived from statistical reports published by the Assemblies of God on its website. See: “Statistics of the Assemblies of God (USA) 2015 Reports,” General Council of the Assemblies of God.
Table: AG USA Conversions 1978-2015
Table: AG USA Major Worship Service Attendance 1978-2015
Table: AG USA Baptisms 1979-2015
http://ag.org/top/About/statistics/index.cfm (accessed February 22, 2017).
[14] Joe Carter, “Fact Checker: Are all Christian Denominations in Decline?” The Gospel Coalition, March 17, 2015. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/factchecker-are-all-christian-denominations-in-decline (accessed February 22, 2017).