Appendix B: The Problem Of The Middle-Class Church In The Latter Half Of The Twentieth Century

Appendix B: The Problem Of The Middle-Class Church In The Latter Half Of The Twentieth Century

It is my hope that this book may be useful in helping orthodox evangelicalism so that it will be a thing of strength and beauty in the second half of the twentieth century.

In order for evangelicalism to be this, three principles must be observed:

There are two sections of our society to which, by and large, we have failed to communicate—the intellectuals on the one hand, and the workers on the other. The problem of being largely middle-class in our churches becomes really pressing both because of this, and also when we realize that we are losing children of Christian parents because they no longer accept their middle-class background in either home or local church.

In the two increasingly important areas of ideas and the application of morals, the majority of churches have little to say either to intellectuals or workers or, too often, to the young people from Christian homes.

Working in Switzerland, we have had many Christians’ children who are honestly confused, coming from many different countries. They find so often that the answers they have been given simply do not touch the problems which are their problems. But this observation is gleaned not only from the many people who come to us in Switzerland but also from traveling over much of the Western world, lecturing in many different places.

It is therefore my considered opinion that if the church today is really concerned to break out of its middle-class format and meet the intellectuals, workers and young people where they are, it must make an honest and courageous attempt to implement all three of the principles above. It is as we who are working together in L’Abri Fellowship have sought by the grace of God, even though totally inadequately, to put them into practice that we have seen many twentieth-century men and women reached by the gospel. It would be our conclusion that all three points are imperative, wherever the church is serious in wanting to speak to these of our generation.

We do not think that the material and outlook in this book is shut up to a few exotic Christian works appealing to an international group of intellectual and creative people. A number of those who have spent time to grasp this material are now using it with the uneducated with very encouraging results. For this we are thankful.

But even more, we are convinced that a comprehending use of this material would be helpful also within the “middle-class” churches and institutions which make up so much of evangelicalism and orthodoxy today. First, it would give a new dimension of wealth in Christ to those churches, missions and institutions. Second, it would be much harder for those round about to write them off as a subculture representing largely only yesterday. Third, they would protect their own next generation. The Christians have been in danger not only of not understanding but of not taking seriously the problems of their children.

I must say that I am deeply troubled not only by what I find among our Western churches, but also by what I come up against among Christian converts from overseas. On many occasions as I have been lecturing to international groups, I have felt torn to bits for those from overseas who have been educated in mission schools and then sent out naked into the twentieth-century world.

The work of the Holy Spirit should never be minimized, but nowhere in the Scriptures do we find the work of the Holy Spirit an excuse for laziness and lack of love on the part of those with Christian responsibility. Nor is the Holy Spirit ever old-fashioned in the bad meaning of that term.

A word of warning here. To grasp and apply the principles we have been seeking to lay down is not just to memorize a static framework or terminology, this could be just one more dead thing. One of the joys in our work is to see how many young people and more mature teachers are carrying this thinking into their own academic disciplines and the arts, and are developing them along the lines of their own fields of interest.

As we seek to meet the problems there are two things which we must strenuously seek to avoid, whether we are engaged in teaching, missionary work or in some aspect of the life of the local church.

First: settling down and accepting the present situation simply because of the inertia caused by those who speak of the problem of the churches’ young people and speak much of missions, but who simply do not want to question the familiar because it is painful to do so. The problem is that the evangelical, orthodox churches, institutions and programs are today often under the control of those who are in this category. This control is both organizational and financial. Thus, there is a tendency not to “rock the boat.” This responsibility cannot be met by the young people themselves nor by the young ministers and young missionaries alone.

Mature Christians, and Christians in places of responsibility, must summon the courage to distinguish, under the Holy Spirit, between unchangeable biblical truth and the things which have merely become comfortable for us. Often one hears people speak of “the simple gospel only,” when in reality they do not really care enough for those outside the churches, or their own children for that matter, to be willing to face what preaching the simple gospel may mean in a changing and complex situation.

Second: the development of an intellectual and cultural snobbishness or elitism. This can easily come about unless we help one another not to fall into it. Such an attitude grieves the Holy Spirit, destroys rather than builds and is as offensively ugly as anything can be.

We will make mistakes, but by God’s grace we must strive to avoid either of these two errors or a choice between them.

After considerable thought and the practical experience of trying it out in several countries, I would suggest the following two concepts be borne in mind as we train our young people to take their full part in the Christian work of our time.

First of all, it must be remembered that those who make up the body of the churches and the institutions are also the lambs of God. They need care and help just as much as do the intellectuals, the creative people and the young people who are becoming twentieth-century people. When a pastor accepts the call to go to a particular church, his call is to minister to the whole congregation. Those who care nothing about the new problems are to be fed and shepherded. Therefore, the general preaching and teaching in the middle-class evangelical church should not be of such a nature as to confuse, hurt or undernourish them.

On the other hand, nothing should be preached or taught in the general services and classes which will have to be unlearned when young people and others read and discuss the deeper problems or go away to university. I would suggest that all Sunday school, Bible class and educational material should be prepared with this in mind. We should ask ourselves the question “Is the material of such a nature that it could be extended by eighteen years of honest study without it proving false?”

This will mean more attention to the preparation of sermons, lesson material, Bible study notes and so on. Not everyone will be equally adept at this, but each could be helped if Christian schools, seminaries and theological colleges, Bible schools, missionary training institutes, and publishing houses would set up a program in order to avoid making the old mistakes and omissions and add some to their staff who had been trained to think in a total cultural apologetic. The program could be set up to be operative at a given date, say in three years’ time.

Thus, my first suggestion would be: the general teaching and preaching should be of such a nature as to feed and care for those who make up the body of the congregation or institution, yet keeping in mind that nothing is given which must be unlearned as deeper problems are later met.

Second, I would suggest that special times be set aside in the church, institution or mission, so that those who are in, or are coming into, the twentieth-century problems can get what they need. The occasion could be a talk, discussion or seminar. It would be valuable if those claiming no affiliation to the church could be brought into the discussion as well. It does not have to be a big gathering or extensively publicized, but rather the gathering together of those in the church and outside the church who wish to get on. Nor does this getting on have to be purely intellectual, for if one goes deep enough into the intellectual questions, one comes to the deep spiritual problems and realities. And when one goes deep enough spiritually, one touches on the real intellectual problems and realities.

Men and women trained in this way will then have the opportunity, as they go overseas or into unfamiliar territories at home, of understanding what are the twentieth-century problems people face.

So it seems to me that a course in homiletics or apologetics which does not consciously seek to implement these two suggestions today is really a preparation for failure and sorrow.

Christian conferences, etc., could have a place for caring for those considerations on a deeper and extended level. Surely, too, those who have a responsibility for Christian radio programs and television could at least find small corners for those who, in many places, make up the majority of the population.

In this way all could be fed, and, if introduced not too rapidly but rather with much emphasis on spiritual growth and love as well as understanding, in most cases there would not have to be two “churches” under one roof, nor an explosion.

Yet, I would say, some ripples are worthwhile rather than allowing those outside and our own young people who are longing for real answers to choke in the all-too-present dustiness.

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