Evangelical crisis? I don’t think so

What is the state of conservative evangelicalism? Glen Scrivener has given us a challenging answer in his article in the July 2022 issue of en, ‘BWWs: the “Blokes Worth Watching” conveyor belt…’

His article is a strong critique, essentially arguing that we evangelicals are in something of a spiritual crisis. The strength of its criticisms invites a rejoinder. As a fellow pastor, I know Glen and have worked with him. He is a wonderful evangelist, a man of integrity and a very gifted preacher. Most importantly, he loves Jesus and cares for the abused. I think, though, there are some real problems with Glen’s take on our churches.

Of course, any response to critique may sound like a predictable ‘circling of the wagons’ and the ‘system working to defend itself.’ So, I should make clear that I’ve never been one of the elite BWWs (‘blokes worth watching’) Glen talks about. Indeed, my background is rather ordinary and uninspiring. I also confess to never having been to a camp as a youth or student – nor was I clever enough to go to Oxbridge! I didn’t even go to the College That Must Not Be Named (strangely, Glen, and others on social media, have chosen to speak of Oak Hill in sarcastic euphemisms). I am to all intents and purposes one who is ‘unnaturally born’ according to Glen’s schema. Despite my outsider status, his critique does not resonate with what I see around me.

A weakness in Glen’s analysis is that he seems to turn his own personal experiences of college open days and mottos into a wide-ranging critique. I actually felt quite sorry for the poor bloke who showed him around Oak Hill. Is the example of a hot-headed theology student something new? For example, a colleague of mine shared how, when he went round Wycliffe Hall on an open day, a zealous student there warned him off Oak Hill college! Which of us hasn’t said silly things, caricatured others, or spoken proudly? Would Glen want his worst moments to be seen as representative of conservative evangelicalism? Surely, we can be more generous!

I have rubbed shoulders aplenty with leaders who have come from Oak Hill and Camp and the Dreaded Public Schools – yet what I generally see is simply fallible sinner-saints trying to do their best. Obviously, there have been awful leadership scandals over the last few years. These should make us get on our knees, repent and reform. We should be asking hard questions about our style of leadership more widely. Yet, in doing this, we must also give thanks for the hundreds of spiritual leaders, trained through these institutions, who serve their churches faithfully, love their families, confess their sins, preach the gospel, die and go to glory.

Glen is also strong in his disapproval of what he calls an all-encompassing ‘blokes worth watching’ elite ministry philosophy. Whatever his experience of the infamous Oak Hill lecture, I think he greatly over-estimates the coherence of such a particular ministry culture. Moreover, his critique is largely out of touch with normal pastoral ministry in the vast majority of churches. On a simple practical level, most pastors across the UK are scuttling around trying to balance sermon prep, pastoral care of their congregation and also loving their families. While they might want to see young leaders developed, the idea of recruiting elite leaders from top private schools is a remote possibility.

While it is true that historically there has been an elite strain to conservative evangelical leadership, this has, to be fair, mirrored a phenomenon that has characterised UK society more widely. One needs a balanced response to this. On the one hand, a much better diversity should be aimed at. On the other hand, we must also avoid a reverse snobbery that subtly undermines godly men and women from elite backgrounds. And, contrary to Glen’s perspective, everything points to a greater diversity emerging amongst us. In 2006 I led a church plant onto an inner city council estate in London (Glen himself was placed for a year with us while at college and proved to be a fantastic blessing!). At the time, this was unusual, yet, since we moved here 16 years ago there has now been an explosion of church planting on estates across the UK. The network to which we belong has planted five other churches on estates during this time, and we are driving hard to reach new ethnic groups in our city. Across the UK, there are now many brilliant examples of leaders working in very non-elite contexts.

Further, while I concede the dangers of a ‘blokey locker room’ culture, it simply is not the case that we only train men. In the network-wide ministry training scheme that I oversee there are around 50-50 men and women. At the biggest national ministry trainee conference, Maximise, there is a roughly 60-40 split of men and women attendees. Surely that indicates that, on a national church level, rather than seeking out BWWs, we are actually looking to find MAWWTs – ‘Men And Women Worth Training’! That said, we also have to obey 2 Timothy 2:2. Within a complementarian context, this inevitably brings a focus on training male pastors/elders. Accordingly, a focus on training some qualified blokes is a necessity for future ministry.

Glen’s critique becomes much more wide-ranging in the second half of the article. There, he focuses on the conservative evangelical approach to the Bible, prayer and theology. Ironically, this would have been much stronger if it had been less overstated. He initially makes good points, but then he says that we evangelicals have ‘little place for theology … prayer … deep transformation of character’. At the end, he says that we are in a moment of spiritual crisis. In fact, he seems to say that we are, in essence, a dead trellis rather than a living vine needing ‘to discover, perhaps for the first time, what true theology, worship, prayer and discipleship means’.

My response is simply: ‘Really?’ Is it really that bad? I don’t think so. Now, of course, as a movement, we have a good number of weaknesses and much to grow in. We have had jarring leadership scandals, we are weak on systematic theology, we tend to be too cognitive and we are way too culturally-white and middle class. Further, there are individuals who have been trodden on and wounded by evangelical leaders. We have plenty to repent of and much to learn. Yet, is this not the normal reality of church life in a messed up, fallen world? Is this not the normal experience of the unglorified church? We are always mucking stuff up and falling short, and we are always needing to repent and grow. In addition, as I look around me, I also see many examples of sacrificial, generous, humble evangelicals. I see people who combine gospel preaching with good works. I look at Glen’s ministry and rejoice at the impact that he is having, and the way he loves people. Accordingly, I don’t think that everything has become so wretched that we need to discover Jesus for the first time, as Glen seems to suggest. On the contrary, we need to remember who Jesus has already become for us. Our Saviour has never left His sinner saints. He is faithful. Our hope is that our patient and loving Shepherd will lead His church, in its weakness, in new paths of righteousness.