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Evangelical Nuisances
The Last Word by Ole Anthony and Skippy R.
Issue #186, March/April 2003

Evangelicals are becoming a public nuisance.

Like the lowrider Chevy that pulls up next to you, rattling your windows with a hip-hop wall of decibels from Public Enemy, channeled through 800-watt amps that are meant to say, "I have ARRIVED, buddy, and whatever you're doing or thinking or listening to has got to give way to MY agenda."

Everybody hates those guys.

And everybody is starting to feel the same way about Christians.

The momentum has been growing for years. Back in the '90s, the book What America Believes asked the public to rank hundreds of societal groups.

Televangelists ranked next to last, beating out only drug dealers. Now a recent Barna poll reports the public image of evangelicals as a whole ranks next to last, beating out only prostitutes and just behind lesbians.

Of course, the world will always be offended by the true gospel. But that's not happening. Instead, people are being offended by the hypocrisy, self-importance and desperate sales gimmicks Christians display through their evangelistic efforts. The real gospel gets lost behind all the ear-splitting dissonance in the background.

So what do real missions and evangelism look like?

It might be easier to first explain what they're not.

* Televangelism is not evangelism. With its worldwide electronic reach, the cotton-candy gimme-gospel of the televangelists is what most people associate with the word "Christian." The name-it-and-claim-it, gain-is-godliness philosophy behind these programs is the opposite of the gospel Jesus expressed on the cross. This might fill stadiums, but so does Britney Spears.

* Motivational thinking and sales techniques cannot substitute for preaching the cross. Getting psyched up is not the same thing as zeal. You can't sell God the same way you sell cornflakes. In fact, motivational methododology might just be a way to disguise one's own lack of faith.

* Appeals to maximize self-interest won't bring anyone to faith in Christ. Parading happy, successful, celebrities and athletes to entice people to get what these people have will never bring anyone to face their own sinfulness....