Evangelicals celebrated those Super Bowl ads â but they exemplify everything wrong with the evangelical church
Decade after decade, fewer people in America attend church. Indeed, Americans reject the label of “Christian” more now than ever before in this nation’s history. Yet during exactly the same time period over the past few decades, the evangelical church became increasingly louder in the areas of culture and politics. But evangelicals haven’t figured out that the louder they get, the more people run away from the church. This new advertising campaign that culminated during the Super Bowl won’t bring them back to church.
My basic advice to the evangelical church is found in another familiar acronym: STFU. In 1 John 3:18, we are told, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” Right now the evangelical church does not deserve Americans’ loyalty, let alone actually showing up on Sunday. Most such churches are not places that preach the truth about Jesus Christ or try to do his good work. Generally speaking, the evangelical church is a place of loud, angry, judgmental and biblically-illiterate self-worship.
After the church learns to STFU, perhaps it can get back to doing things based on kindness, forgiveness, love and mercy â qualities that used to be considered Christian virtues. Not many Americans are coming back to the church as it is. It is time for a vigorous reformation of Christian theology, and time to put away the standard-issue evangelical ideology and political agenda. In the words of Jesus in John 13:35, the message is clear: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” Does this country feel the love from the current evangelical church? I would imagine that nearly everyone who is now outside the evangelical church would say no.