The evangelical embrace of secular politics has changed what counts as evangelism. The cultural wars, with their anger, outrage and hyperbole, have proved intoxicating to the previous heralds of the good news of Jesus. Evangelism has been watered down to shaming liberals instead of offering salvation.
The idea of asking a total stranger, “Are you a Christian?” never occurs to many evangelicals. When is the last time you asked someone, even a member of your family, “Have you trusted Jesus as your personal Savior?” This bread-and-butter evangelical question has died on the lips of evangelicals now outraged over politics and culture wars.
Rodney Kennedy
In the 1970s, evangelicals openly shared their faith with total strangers — door-to-door, public spaces, parties and family gatherings. If you grew up Southern Baptist, chances are you received training in D. James Kennedy’s Evangelism Explosion on how to publicly share your faith in Jesus. The book is still available and is in its fourth edition but is not a bestseller.
Mentioning the name of Jesus today means invitations to the best cocktail parties dry up. People look at you funny as if you didn’t go to a decent university but some backwoods Bible school.
Our best effort is reduced to inviting someone to come to church, not so much for salvation but for fellowship, food and community.
Evangelicals now feel awkward asking someone to believe in Jesus as the Son of God. Franklin Graham does that sort of thing on television. He invites people to say the “Sinner’s Prayer” and be saved. But the name of Jesus stays mostly in the houses of praise unless used as an expression of irritation.
Stanley Hauerwas says, “Evangelicals have lost the ability to speak Christian just to the extent they identify Christian speech with what Americans call ‘freedom.’”
Politics has not been an upgrade for evangelism.
“It was lonely at Starbucks with Jesus.”
At a local Starbucks, I ordered a venti vanilla latte, took a seat at a table and placed a sign: “TELL ME ABOUT JESUS.” In the one hour I conducted my experiment, there were stares, raised eyebrows and people mumbling “crazy” or “fanatic.” One guy stopped and asked me if I was pro-life, pro-guns, anti-immigrant and anti-trans. Nothing about Jesus.
Finally, a Starbucks manager came over and asked me to leave. I was relieved. It was lonely at Starbucks with Jesus. I was disturbing people who only wanted an espresso or latte to start the day. “Jesus” was too jarring for a Wednesday morning in the Deep South.
Flannery O’Connor said the South was “Christ-haunted,” but now we all inhabit a haunted age where belief and unbelief are equal sparring partners. Jesus has lost his public persona. Evangelicals have started accusing Jesus of being “woke” because of his Sermon on the Mount.
Evangelicals have a different gospel and a different approach to evangelism. Revenge trumps repentance. Voting “right” matters more than living a righteous life. Now, they gather in large churches or huge political rallies. They join protests against liberal values. Or they stand up on a Delta flight to D.C. and sing gospel songs to a captive audience.
Hannah Sampson’s Washington Post article, “Evangelists Say They are Heeding a Biblical Command to Preach on Flights,” highlights the evangelical approach to evangelism: in-your-face, bullying and ill-mannered. This is now what passes for evangelism among evangelicals.
Evangelicals travel in groups — loud, confident, pushy and imbued with a sense of certainty. On social media, they are outraged. Social media has been the perfect breeding ground for spreading evangelical outrage, moralism and self-righteous condemnations.
Maybe evangelicals have given up evangelism because the pressure of our secular culture has silenced them. I can’t remember the last time I saw a pair of freshly scrubbed, neatly dressed Mormon missionaries in my neighborhood. I miss Mormon missionaries and their bold courage.
“Jesus is disappearing from our streets. People see no need for his message.”
On Tuesday morning, when the temperature was already 95 degrees, two men dressed in black suits knocked on my door. They identified themselves as Jehovah’s Witnesses and started their memorized presentation. I thanked them for stopping by, applauded their courage at talking to total strangers and sent them on their way.
A few months ago, I observed two Jehovah’s Witnesses with a display booth in the baggage area at the Albany International Airport. I asked, “Have y’all given up door-to-door witnessing?” They smiled and said nothing.
Jesus is disappearing from our streets. People see no need for his message. There are new stories captivating Americans, especially secular humanism. I’m not talking militant atheism but a quiet sense of people flourishing without belief in God. People are not even aware they miss God. The number of Americans never baptized, never sent to Sunday school and never attending a normal church service in their lives multiplies.
And evangelicals struggle to find a public voice, a “good news” for a secular age. They seem unaware how secularism has changed belief, worship and witness. I believe this is why they long for the “good old days” and are intoxicated by “Make America Great Again.” Saying a good word for Jesus has become the most difficult form of communication.
The evangelical hucksters still sell a neat and tidy road to salvation, but there’s no gospel there. And the movement shows no signs of abating. Outrage sells better than Jesus. Can the evangelicals recover evangelism, their original reason for being? I am no longer sure.
Rodney W. Kennedy is a pastor and writer. He is the author of 11 books, including his latest, Dancing with Metaphors in the Pulpit.