Most American evangelicals hold views condemned as heretical by some of the most important councils of the early church.
A survey released today by LifeWay Research for Ligonier Ministries “reveals a significant level of theological confusion,” said Stephen Nichols, Ligonier’s chief academic officer. Many evangelicals do not have orthodox views about either God or humans, especially on questions of salvation and the Holy Spirit, he said.
Evangelicals did score high on several points. Nearly all believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead (96%), and that salvation is found through Jesus alone (92%). Strong majorities said that God is sovereign over all people (89%) and that the Bible is the Word of God (88%).
My guess is that orthodox theology is not taught in churches who see no need for it, do not think lay persons can understand it, or believe it to be divisive. As they would say, “it is all in the liturgy that we say every week.”
CS Lewis said, “If you don’t listen to theology, that won’t mean you have no ideas about God. It will mean you have a lot of wrong ones.”
The corollary is that if you don’t spend the time to teach theology, your congregation will have a lot of wrong ideas about God.
Pb,
In my experience very few Evangelicals are liturgical in their worship. Most in fact would seem to be decidedly anti-liturgical.
#3, Ad Orienten, they don’t have a “liturgy” since they don’t do “sacraments,” but they do have routine ways of expressing themselves. The same prayers, or at least the same formulae, will be used week after week. If you’ve ever sat in on an evangelical bible study group or visited an evangelical independent or Baptist-style worship service, you’ve heard the way they pray, and I assure you they react often negatively to any change in the way they say and do things.
I love the creeds… All three of them…
I am just trying to work out – what is an “evangelical”? They don’t say in the article. Because if it just means someone who puts themselves down as “evangelical” in a census, then that may mean that they haven’t actually been to church for years – maybe occasionally at Christmas.
So some of the comments about liturgy could be wide of the mark – if the interviewer is quizzing someone who has only been to church a few times in the last 10 years, then its unlikely to make much difference whether their church has a liturgy or not!
Its also interesting to think what the percentages would have been if the same survey was conducted of people who tick the box for “Anglican”, “Lutheran”, “Catholic” or “Orthodox”. For all we know, the evangelicals might come out looking very good.
MichaelA, here in the US “Evangelical” is a term used broadly to describe Bible-only Baptist-style congregations, whether actually Baptist or one of a large number of denominations and unaffiliated congregations. Here, it’s a style of worship — non-liturgical, with a sermon the focus of the event.
I think it might be helpful to keep before us a set of criteria for describing what an Evangelical is that is more belief and value based than just the style of worship of a particular denomination. Here is a list of evangelical believes and values that comes from J.I. Packer and is used by Trinity School for Ministry (TSM) dean Justin Terry, himself and evangelical Anglican:
The word “evangelical” is used in many different ways these days, and there is much debate about its meaning. My preference is for J.I. Packer’s six distinctives of evangelicalism, which are endorsed by John Stott and Alister McGrath, all three of whom are prominent evangelical Anglicans.
The supreme authority of Scripture for knowledge of God and as guide to Christian living.
The majesty of Jesus Christ as incarnate God and Lord, and the saviour of sinful humanity.
The lordship of the Holy Spirit.
The need for personal conversion.
The priority of evangelism for both individual Christians and for the Church as a whole.
The importance of Christian community for spiritual nourishment, fellowship and growth.
Others Evangelicals have similar lists that would be worth consulting and comparing. Isn’t it wise to define your terms before the thread gets out of hand and the waters muddied by using a term as broad as “evangelical” without first defining the term in clearer terms that can travel from one denominations worship to another. I don’t think that you would necessarily become more evangelical just because you worship as a Baptist in a Baptist-style church. Of course the article we are talking about is not about what churches are evangelical or not but about the extent to which believers in ‘Evangelical’ churches hold wrong ideas about God. You might go to a church that meets the evangelical criteria of having a high view of the supreme authority of scripture and still hold a false view of the co-eternity of the Son with the Father. The problem seems to be churches that don’t teach the evangelical faith they profess or members who are careless about the teaching they get. Likely it’s both.
What do you others think of Dean Terry’s list of the characteristics of of an evangelical believer?
I can’t argue with Dean Terry on that, and I bet the survey did not screen for evangelicals using those criteria.
From the article:[blockquote](Lifeway Research says the survey used was a balanced online panel in February and March. Of the survey’s initial 3,000 responses, this report looked at the 557 who came from Protestants who described themselves as evangelical—which would be about 19 percent of the American population.)[/blockquote]No, they did not screen for evangelicals using any criterion other than self-identification.
Interesting article, though I thought the survey a bit oddly designed. All the orthodox responses were to disagree with the statement. That type of design seems like it could bias the survey results, in that soon one might not even think about the question and just check disagree…
I love the creeds and am so thankful for Anglican liturgy which roots our faith and infuses our hearts and minds with orthodox truth each week, helping us not merely rely on what we feel or what the preacher may preach. I miss Anglican worship here where I’m serving. The only worship option here is a non-denominational international evangelical church. (I do love the West African singing here though…!)
By the way, I see blogger Trevin Wax has an interesting post about this survey, briefly analysing some of the key results:
Here’s Where Your Neighbors Are Theologically
http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/2014/10/29/heres-where-your-neighbors-are-theologically/
The section on moralistic therapeutic deism (one of Kendall’s favorite topics!) is excellent – identifying the consequences of this belief, and how we need to respond when presenting the Gospel.
[blockquote]Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
The findings on salvation are distressing, especially when so many of these responses come from people who identify as evangelical or Catholic. Smietana summarizes:
Most Americans (71 percent), and in particular Black Protestants (82 percent) and Catholics (87 percent), say people must contribute some effort toward their own salvation. Two thirds (64 percent) say in order to find peace with God, people have to take the first step, and then God responds to them with grace.
The idea that Christianity teaches that salvation comes through keeping a moral code is prevalent today. Sociologist Christian Smith described America’s religious views as “moralistic therapeutic deism,†a worldview he explains in five statements:
“A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.†That’s the “Deism†part. God created the world, watches things, but doesn’t do much in the way of intervening in human affairs.
“God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.†That’s the Moralistic part. The goal of religion is to be a nice, moral person.
“The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.†That’s the Therapeutic part. The most important thing in life is to be happy and well-balanced.
“God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.†Now, we see the Deistic view of God combine with God’s therapeutic purpose. He exists to make us happy.
“Good people go to heaven when they die.†Salvation is accomplished through morality.
Along these lines, it’s no wonder that so many Americans believe there are more ways than Jesus to get to heaven. The good news is, evangelicals are much more likely to affirm the Christian teaching that Jesus is the only way to God, a sign that despite offering moralistic understandings of salvation, they recognize there is something uniquely powerful about Jesus and His gospel.
[b]Takeaway:[/b] Realize that most gospel presentations are going to be interpreted from within a moralistic framework. Terminology like “Get right with God†and “make a decision for Christ†is likely to be heard by lost people as “get your act together†and “ask Jesus for help in being good.†We must always stress our inherent sinfulness and Christ’s gracious rescue in order to counter the moralistic assumptions of our culture.[/blockquote]
Hi Katherine at #7,
My point was that the survey includes nominal evangelicals. A similar survey of Roman Catholics, Orthodox or Anglicans would probably return the same results – I just think of some of the views held by my nominal RC friends – not at all what the local RC priest would agree with, or teaches. So those above claiming how this proves that liturgical churches are better have missed the mark.
They could be right, but this survey doesn’t prove it.