Evangelical methodology in disarray

    Sadly, over the last thirty years traditional Evangelical methodology has fallen out of favour such that many Evangelicals are no longer loyal to the reformed English catholic tradition. This change is driven by a theological shift prompted by declining church attendance. Evangelicals are shifting on the reformed doctrines of the sovereignty of God/providence (an Arminian shift) and justification/grace (a pietist/legalist shift). It is important to analyze this shift.
 
    First, there is church growth through relevance. Prayer Book worship is set aside so as to "access the unchurched", progress "gospel growth", and create "gospel sensitive services." This drive for relevance to enhance gospel effectiveness and thus grow the church, rests on the false notion that well-managed and marketed pop-culture relevance, rather than tradition, furthers the realization of the Kingdom of God. Of course, the only thing that furthers the Kingdom of God is the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. Destroying one pragmatic and replacing it with another, only dissipates and divides our meager efforts. Pragmatism does not grow the true church
 
    Second, there is church growth through purity. Prayer Book worship is often set aside so as to enhance purity and thus grow the church. The elimination of so called "dark rituals" (robes, symbols, seasonal colours, liturgy.....), along with the restricted access of the unchurched to the sacraments of the church, supposedly furthers the creation of a "righteousness which exceeds that of the Scribes and the Pharisees." Of course, righteousness, either imputed or imparted, is a gift of God's grace appropriated through the instrument of faith, and is not of good works. God blesses the repentant sinner, not the righteous churchman. Pietism does not grow the true church.
 
    It is true that the redesign of the given (readjusting the levers of institutional form) is producing some numerical success. Yet, when we try to build Zion, we sometimes build Babel. It's very easy to enculturate people into institutional religion. No church is immune from this danger.
 
    In the 1960's we took our children out of the Anglican church and indoctrinated them into Methodist worship-patterns in Sunday School. Liturgy is now quite foreign to them. The free-style chorus sing-a-long is just an extended Sunday School opening for the middle-class ex fellowship crew. The real unchurched outsider actually finds it foreign. As for the church growth technology often employed to incorporate people into the "caring church community", it is little more than a good marketing technique applied to the relational needs of lonely suburbia (an existential desire) and the need to tap upward mobility (an eschatological desire).
 
    Let me be clear at this point, Prayer Book Christianity is not divine revelation, it is not a God-given form above all other forms. Anglicanism is itself nothing more than a particular pragmatic and it is certainly not my brief in this paper to argue for a particular structure that is, in the end, but dust. Yet, it is a pragmatic that both fits Biblical theology and is proven to work.
 
    First, Anglican shape does encourage the realization of the Kingdom of God rather than Babel. It is an effective frame for Biblical ministry. Consider the worth of Cranmer's Prayer Book principles:
    i] Preservation. Maintenance of received worship traditions rather than change (innovation) for change sake;
    ii] Simplicity. A worship form for the people focused on the reading of scripture;
    iii] Purity. The removal of anything contrary to scripture; iv] Common tongue. Worship in the language of the people, rather than a priestly class;
    v] Uniformity. A common "use".
Second, Anglican shape does work. The business of "accessing" people into the local congregation using church growth methodology, involves the wholesale destruction of liturgical tradition and its replacement with a pseudo pop-culture club entertainment style. Given that the local club does it better, the results are anything but spectacular. The "seeker" profile is substantially a middle-class ex youth fellowship member. This is certainly not successful "accessing". On the other hand, while I was living at Braidwood, the Rector at the time, Father Ian, signed up all the 6th class Anglicans from the local primary school for Confirmation, and used them as servers during their Confirmation year. He successfully linked those young people to their church for the rest of their lives. At best they were CofE (Christmas and Easter!) but they were now part of the institution, having access to the one essential element, namely the Word of God.
 
    immediately I can hear some of my brothers and sisters saying to me, "If there's no substance in the shape, why bother with tradition?" Of course, the question is far better in the reverse. If there's no substance in the shape, why change tradition? Anglicanism is a classic form with a proven track record. Why change it when it's not broken?
 
    The retention of classic design criteria is the crucial factor for the preservation of organization. Rugby Union is not preserved by allowing all other possible football games to be played under the code rules. The marque must be retained, even if the following is down on other codes. A Rugby Union club won't survive by becoming a pseudo Rugby League club, or worse, by playing Union in the morning, League at night, and teaching Ausie Rules to the juniors. The best way to destroy the Anglican church is to mimic the Judges where "everyone did that which was right in their own eyes."
 
    So, sadly Evangelical methodology has gone a little mad at the present moment. A touch of the Arminian virus (pragmatism rather than providence), and Pietism (legalism rather than grace).
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