There are two great challenges facing evangelicals in America today. The first is contemporary. How can evangelicals effectively minister in an atmosphere where war is looking increasingly likely? What is their role? Are they to tacitly support the administration, passively ignore the political realities, or actively campaign for a pacifist response?
Each of these approaches have had their supporters in conflicts past. The other challenge is historic. Because the revival of American evangelicalism over the past 50 years has, by and large, been based in para-church organisations, the gut-feeling of many American Christians is one that is thoroughly unused to being committed to a local church. This - as anyone with a moment's reflection could see - might easily transpire to produce enormous problems for the Christian community at large in the future.
Where is the doctrinal cohesion of the Christian community going to come from if it is not constantly reinforced by faithful and relevant preaching from the pulpit? How are our cultural tendencies towards selfish materialistic individualism to be transformed by the gospel if not within the fabric of checks and balances as provided by membership of a local church?
