The longtime columnist for Christianity Today, Philip Yancey, is taking a break. He has been writing the Back Page column since the inception of CT. He needs a break, it seems and has written a “farewell for now” column. And oh boy, it’s a doozy. It hits some of my most favorite-est themes: Protestant disunity, Evangelical navel-gazing, the scourge of worship music, the prevalence of multi-media extravanganzas within Sunday services, the need for a return to liturgy based worship, and a realization that Catholicism is underappreciated by the Evangelical group (although he mostly praises Eastern Orthodoxy-except for some music and monasticism, same thing). Here then is his article:
This will be my final column for Christianity Today—for a while, at least. After writing Back Page columns since 1983, I have decided to take a break. Since this magazine describes itself as one “of evangelical conviction,” it seems appropriate to use this last column to make a few overall observations on the movement.
Evangelicalism has become a global phenomenon. In the past year I have visited the Middle East, India, Africa, Latin America, and Europe as the guest of churches and ministries. In each place, evangelicals exude life and energy. While staid churches change slowly, evangelicals tend to be light on their feet, adapting quickly to cultural trends.
The Jesus movement, the house-church movement, seeker-friendly churches, emergent churches—evangelicals have spawned all of these. In their wake, worship bands have replaced organs and choirs, PowerPoint slides and movie clips now enliven sermons, and espresso bars keep congregants awake. If a technique doesn’t work, find one that does.
Although I admire the innovation, I would caution that mimicking cultural trends has a downside. At a recent youth workers conference I attended, worship meant a DJ playing techno music at jet-engine volume while a sweaty audience crowded the stage, jumping up and down while shouting spiritual one-liners. At the risk of sounding old-fashioned, I couldn’t help questioning the depth of worship. Seminaries now recommend 15-minute sermons in light of shorter attention spans. Publishers want slimmer books, with simpler words and concepts. Will we soon have a 140-character Twitter gospel?
Perhaps we should present an alternative to the prevailing culture rather than simply adopt it. What would a church look like that created space for quietness, that bucked the celebrity trend and unplugged from surrounding media, that actively resisted consumerist culture? What would worship look like if it were directed more toward God than toward our entertainment preferences? [er..it'd look like a Roman Catholic church. Sorry, couldn't resist! -- Luce]
We have much to learn from other Christian traditions. For all their prominence, evangelicals still make up a small slice of the world. Slightly less than a third of the world identifies as Christian. Of these, almost two-thirds are Catholic, Orthodox, or near-Catholic. Of the remaining Christians, barely 10 percent of the world’s population, many would resist the evangelical label.
While writing a book about prayer, I learned more from Catholics than from any other group. They have, after all, devoted entire orders to the practice. I learn mystery and reverence from the Eastern Orthodox. In music, in worship, in theology, they teach me of the mysterium tremendum involved when we puny human beings approach the God of the universe.
As I survey evangelicalism I see much good, but also much room for improvement. Our history includes disunity—how many different denominations do this magazine’s readers represent?—and a past that includes lapses in ethics and judgment. We have brought energy to faith, but also division. We celebrate the transformation of individuals, but often fall short in our larger goal of transforming society.
Gosh, I’m going to miss him terribly. If SDG weren’t reviewing for CT, I might stop reading it altogether.
