Toward an Evangelical Renaissance

Two recent experiences have moved me to crystallize some fresh thoughts on the subject of evangelism and the Christian realities that are at its core. One was reading the remarkable booklet by Richard S. Armstrong entitled The Oak Lane Story.

The second was my participation in two small groups of concerned evangelicals that in 1967 and ’68 met near Key Bridge, which connects Washington, D. C., with the Virginia side of the Potomac. Those meetings were held under the leadership of Dr. Carl Henry. Evangelist Billy Graham played a dynamic part in the first gathering, as did his associate Leighton Ford in the second. Grateful remembrance of the spirit, concern, and vision of those encounters has stirred the reflections on an evangelical renaissance to which I now give expression.

It becomes increasingly clear that the chief need of contemporary Christianity and of society in general in this confused and revolutionary time is an evangelical renaissance. By that I mean a rediscovery of the Evangel, the Gospel, in its full dimension of light and power, together with the elevation of the Gospel to the status that belongs to the Gospel of Christ in the thought, life, and activity of all persons and organizations that bear the name “Christian.” This renaissance, which is long overdue, is the primary requirement of the world Christian community, from the local congregation to the Church universal. It is equally the basic need of the global community of man.

If an evangelical renaissance is to become a reality and not merely an idea or aspiration, this fact must be remembered and stressed: the Gospel, the Christian “Good News,” is inseparably related to Jesus Christ, to his identity as a person, to the work he accomplished, and to his continuing living presence and companionship on the road of life.

It is a moving fact that the personality of Christ is currently becoming the focus of attention in an unusual manner and in most unexpected circles. This is so in the secular as well as the religious order. There is on the march today a many-sided “Jesus Movement,” an intensified quest for the Christian message. In this context a statement phrased several decades ago in the environs of Jerusalem by a group of Christians from around the world has resounding significance. At the close of a meeting on the Mount of Olives during Easter week, 1928, those Christians said: “Our message is Jesus Christ. He is the revelation of what God is and of what man through him may become.”

Christianity is Christ. The Bible is a book about Christ. Devotion to Christ, the God-man, crucified and risen, is the central passion of true Christian living. In Christ, God’s concern for man becomes manifest. Through Christ the transformation of man, the creation of new men and women, can be accomplished. The evangelical goal is a redeemed humanity. Let this truth be remembered and reemphasized, and its contemporary relevance shown. The Church’s abiding task, its timeless imperative through the ages, is to give luminous and dynamic expression to the Gospel. This demands that the Church be sensitive to the human situation in each successive period of history and to the need to make the Gospel’s changeless essence meaningful in a changing world.

If this is to be achieved, evangelism must be given fresh significance and vitality. It must not confine itself to communicating the Gospel; it must apply the Gospel to all of life. Individual Christians and the Christian community as a whole have the crucial responsibility of confronting people everywhere, in a discreet but decisive way, with the reality of Christ, and of facing the varied problems of human society in the light and power of Christ. Let the Church be the Church. Let the Church be its true self, which it can be only if it takes evangelism seriously, committing itself to the task of evangelization.

The most succinct and meaningful description I know of what evangelistic effort involves is this: “To evangelize is so to present Christ Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit, that men shall come to put their trust in God through him, to accept him as their Saviour, and serve him as their King in the fellowship of his Church.” This statement, first issued by a group of Anglicans some decades ago, merits study in this new age, especially in view of the Church’s growing concern about its evangelistic role.

In the past few years a mood has emerged, a movement has gotten under way that augurs the advent of an evangelical renaissance. Here are facts to be pondered that illumine the horizon of tomorrow.

1. Feeling has begun to play a most decisive role in thinking and activity today, very especially in the world of youth. Words written three centuries ago by the French philosopher-scientist Blaise Pascal, one of the profoundest Christian thinkers of all time, have taken on fresh significance. Said Pascal, “The heart has its reasons which reason does not know.” The heart—that is, a sensitivity to spiritual ultimates that kindles enthusiasm for a cause or idea—is becoming more and more manifest in the present generation of young people. This is true both inside and outside the Church. Crusaders are appearing who embarrass the generation of their fathers.

2. It is a striking fact that the reality of Jesus Christ as a living Presence is central in the experience and ideas of these new crusaders. Hundreds of thousands of young people of very diversified church background participate in the “Jesus Movement.” They are related to a wide variety of evangelical groups that are making an increasingly significant contribution to evangelism. The concern for evangelism in official church circles (a concern that, happily, is growing) must take this new phenomenon very seriously, learn from it, and bring about meaningful contact with those involved in it. Leading newspapers and magazines in the United States have given much attention to the “Jesus Movement,” and one thing they have stressed is how richly human those youths become who have experienced spiritual rebirth.

3. This radical change in outlook and character that multitudes of people are experiencing in this country and in other countries of the world is being paralleled by colossal growth in the Christian community. This is particularly true in Latin American and African countries, and in such lands as Korea and Indonesia.

4. The force that appears to be making the greatest contribution to the current Christian revival around the globe is Pentecostalism. This movement, which began several decades ago, and which in its early years was very sectarian in character, is now becoming ecumenical in the deepest sense. A neo-Pentecostalism has lately appeared that includes many thousands of Roman Catholics. The Roman Catholic Church today is giving new status to the Bible, to the Gospel, to the living Christ, and to Christian fellowship across ecclesiastical boundaries. A new era of the Spirit has begun. The charismatic experience moves Christians far beyond glossolalia. It creates a comradeship in Christ and makes manifest, through the power of the Spirit, that what really matters in world Christianity is not the pursuit of organizational oneness but cooperative effort, Christian companionship in making the Gospel real in its full dimension, in quest of the Kingdom of God.

There is light on the horizon. An evangelical renaissance is becoming visible along the Christian highway from the frontiers of the sects to the high places of the Roman Catholic communion. This appears to be one of the most strategic moments in the Church’s history.

John A. Mackay was president of Princeton Seminary for twenty-three years. He previously was a missionary in Peru, and he is an authority on Hispanic thought. He has been president of the World Presbyterian Alliance and moderator of the United Presbyterian General Assembly.

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