Recently, another pastor asked me, “Is evangelism getting harder?”
I knew where the question was coming from. Downward trends in weekly attendance and membership have sparked numerous conversations over the past several years about the church’s evangelistic efforts. Many congregations are also still struggling to make up lost ground after the pandemic. At least on the surface, the numbers seem to indicate that the church is decreasing in both size and influence.
However, the issue might not be as simple as “the church isn’t doing enough to evangelize” or “the church is missing Gen Z.” A more complex explanation might describe our situation.
A Shifting Church
I grew up in a traditional Southern Baptist context. From my earliest memories in the nursery to my studies in seminary to now pastoring a congregation, I’ve been thoroughly steeped in the evangelical church world. Over the past decade or so, I’ve noticed a shift in our theology that has run parallel with our society’s shift away from nominal Christianity. The results make some of the earlier-mentioned concerns more complicated than they first appear.
Over the last decade, parts of the evangelical world have experienced a theological renaissance. There has been a clear shift
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