I heard a Christian influencer say recently, “We have left the evangelical church because of “trump-ism.” I know another very popular Bible teacher who also recently left the evangelical church because she doesn’t agree with their stance on the Bible. Now, I’m not writing to discuss their reasons for leaving the evangelical church (more about this at a later date), but I want to talk about their desertion from the evangelical church. This is huge and the sad reality is that they are bringing thousands and thousands down this slippery slope.
First, what is the evangelical church? The evangelical church emphasizes these things (there are more, but these three are at its core):
- The Bible is the highest authority!
- Personal faith and conversion in Jesus Christ are the only ways to salvation!
- Repentance of sin!
The evangelical church is focused on the gospel just like the Apostle Paul. The word gospel literally means good news. In Greek, it is the word euaggelion from which we get our English word evangelist, evangel, and evangelical. The gospel is, broadly speaking, the whole of Scripture; more narrowly, the gospel is the good news concerning Christ and the way to salvation. (Gotquestions.org) The gospel is an umbrella – a covering – for the Christian. This umbrella serves as a protection for the Christian but we lose that protective shield if we venture outside of it.
With this, I began to think about what “Christians” will find if they leave this covering. What kinds of churches will they find? They will find churches with wacked out theology, churches that put tradition, religion, and legalism above the Bible, churches that call themselves inclusive… they allow anyone to serve in their church even if they are blatantly living a life of sin, rather than show people a way out of their sin, they accept it. They refuse to accept the order God set down for the Church – the specific roles for men and women. They will find churches that look just like the world… accepting everything the world promotes. They never call sin for what it is… SIN.
Hence, it’s safe for the Christian to stay within the evangelical church. Now hear me… there are many churches that call themselves evangelical, but they are far from it. There are also scores of people who call themselves Christians, but they are not. So, we must be very careful. We must go to a church that adheres to the core tenants of Christianity: The Bible as the highest authority, faith in Jesus is the only way to salvation, and repentance of sin. These pastors are not afraid to address controversial subjects like abortion, homosexuality, gender, the biblical stance on marriage, etc. These pastors and teachers teach God’s people to look at everything through a biblical lens. A true evangelical church is one that looks different than the world. If the church you are attending does not adhere to the core values and biblical mandates Paul preached, then it’s time to find another church.
So please don’t follow anyone who says they have left the evangelical church because this is a slippery slope and one that gets slippery over time. We must stay under the cover of the Gospel.