In this extract from Oliver Barclay's history of evangelicalism in the UK over a 60-year period, he draws lessons for today.
What, then, of the present and the future? The portion of history I have sketched suggests strongly that evangelicalism will not advance by cultural and intellectual compromise, as advocated in the Liberal Evangelical tradition. Nor will it advance by reliance on extrabiblical 'guidance', as in the Oxford Group/MRA.
In the 1990s, we are faced with some of the same temptations as they were in the 1930s. It is again a very difficult time for the churches, and it is attractive to try to find some new theological emphases that resonate with the current culture. The danger is that, as many evangelicals did then, we should either compromise the truth or dilute it to a point where there is little biblical substance left. In a human-centred and experience-oriented generation that is earnestly seeking feel-good factors, it is not so easy to declare a word from God that is more than just the best and most attractive idea to our generation. When our hearers are human-centred, it is easy to follow them and to cease to be God-centred.
