IRD PRESS RELEASE
April 4, 2014
Contact: Jeff Walton office: 202-682-4131, cell: 202-413-5639, e-mail: jwalton@TheIRD.org
“Which is more important, fidelity to historic Christian teaching or temporary political popularity?”
-Chelsen Vicari, Director of IRD’s Evangelical Action Program
Washington, DC—In the wake of World Vision’s effective same-sex “marriage” endorsement, subsequently followed by their reaffirmation of traditional marriage, figures in the “emergent church” movement and broader Religious Left such as Rachel Held Evans and Tony Jones claim that traditional Christian teachings on marriage and sexuality are driving the Millennial generation away from the church.
According to Jones, young evangelicals are “looking for—even hoping for— some advance on the issue of rights and love and equality for GLBT persons. That is why we will keep them in the Christian faith.” He went on to declare, “What WV did yesterday … pushed scores of younger people out of the church and out of the faith.”
This week and beyond, Millennials on IRD’s staff will be addressing this issue in their own blog entries as part of a symposium series on young people and the church. Part 1 is viewable here: http://juicyecumenism.com/2014/03/31/symposium-what-does-liberal-christianity-offer-millennials/
IRD Evangelical Action Director Chelsen Vicari commented:
“The Religious Left has a savvy way of convincing Millenials that to be compassionate and authentic, one must conform to popular culture by being ‘missional’.
“In declaring that World Vision’s reaffirmation of traditional marriage pushed younger people out of the church, Jones made an exceptionally off base claim about Millenials like me.
“Which is more important, fidelity to historic Christian teaching or temporary political popularity?
“For many Millennials, evangelicalism is not an identity we slip on and off like a pair of shoes when it is comfortable. Evangelicalism characterizes our recognition of the inerrant authority of Scripture, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and determination to publicly share the Good News without cultural compromise.
“St. Paul’s words come to mind: ‘Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires…’”
Comment by gary on April 4, 2014 at 4:19 pm
This idea of changing the Bible/Gospel to appeal to groups of people is disturbing. The Gospel doesn’t change – the Good News is the Good News no matter if it is 2,000 years old. To be cliche – apparently some people “can’t handle the truth”.
Comment by Donnie on April 4, 2014 at 5:27 pm
I go to a non-denominational church that is big on evangelism. Every service has a mention on salvation and how to become saved. We also do a lot of social work for those in the community who are hungry. Proving that you can do both (my former church, a UMC was good at the community outreach, but never ever mentioned anything about sin or soul winning)
I’m 36 and many of the members of the church are my age or younger. Some are older. We average about 500 for both services each week and this is in a town of around 20,000 or so. We also have a satellite church about 15 miles north that has even larger crowds, most of them college-aged.
Based on this, I’m not too worried about the future of evangelicalism. I personally shy away from the word (mainly because of its association with people like Rob Bell and others), but if applied to those who want to win souls for Christ, I think we’re safe.