Author WARREN COLE SMITH
Publisher AUTHENTIC
ISBN 1-606-570-289
This is a very important book, well researched, journalistic in style, (its author is a
Christian and a journalist from the southern States of the USA) and penetrative in its
cogent and clear assessment of the North American Evangelical churches. Because
the USA churches have long exported their particular emphases and flavor throughout
the world this is a book that pastors and leaders in multitudes of churches will do well
to examine. The information and analysis given is devastatingly critical of the shape
of mega churches and the church in general. Perhaps the only thing this book is weak
in is that it does not point to any clear remedies, it simply informs us of the way
things have arrived at the present state. Those familiar with the main elements of
church history will know that this author’s handling of things leading to the present
day rejection of history and the sad provincialism so evident in most churches is spot
on. The arrogant attitude so frequently manifested as though nothing much happened
before the late 20th and early 21st centuries is to be deplored. Particularly interesting
(and no doubt annoying to some) will be the way this author shows the sad impact of
what is known as ‘second great awakening’ with Charles Finney being the prominent
figure in that movement that has spawned evangelicalism as we now have it. Again,
(to the chagrin of some readers) the tensions between the Arminianism that
emphasizes human freewill and the doctrine unfairly called Calvinism that lays its
stress on God’s sovereignty and the action of His grace in salvation is seen to be lying
underneath much of the commercialism, numbers game, church growth statistics and
the success orientation so sadly evident in the Christian scene today. This book
gathers an amazing amount of material, figures well documented with plenty of
footnotes. It exposes, what some of us have seen for a long while, that the Para
church organizations have proliferated so much that they out number the actual
churches today and weaken the very churches they desire to serve. Instead of true
church growth the energies of people are channeled into some specialty or other and
the churches lose the possibility of emerging into that which it is called to be. These
Para church organizations have larger budgets than the churches themselves,
absorbing the funds that would be better used elsewhere. Any honest reader of this
book will find plenty of food for thought, even the issue of short term missions with
young people heading off to various lands for a couple of weeks service is shown to
be counterproductive and the money it takes would be better made available to local
pastors endeavoring to serve in their home countries such as India. In fact there is a
very illustrative and helpful section in which Gospel for Asia is examined in some
detail and perhaps this points to a possible way ahead out of the morass into which
evangelicalism has fallen. The contemporary church music scene and the way it has
developed into a formidable money empire get some analysis here too. There is
plenty to make us think and pray, take stock and change our ways, but the cost will be
great. This man has made available to us a very helpful book and written it in a
gracious spirit.
