AVOIDING EVANGELICAL CLASS WAR

Evangelist Roger Carswell's front-page article in this month's
Evangelicals Now exposing elitism in evangelistic strategy is a significant intervention and could be a game-changer. But the issues he rightly raises could flare up into class war if we evangelicals are not prayerfully careful.

Mr Carswell writes:

It seems to me that, in the UK, the parts which need the most attention as far as the gospel is concerned are receiving least. Frankly, I am burdened that there is an evangelical elitism which steers us away from less appealing corners of the harvest fields.

He then describes an attempt to recruit helpers for a mission at Bradford University compared with a similar effort at Oxford:

A few years ago I was asked to speak at a week-long mission at Bradford University. They appealed for helpers - CU guests as they are called - but had no responses. Bradford University is extremely multi-cultural, dominated by Islam. A tiny group of Christians worked hard to reach the thousands in the university, but we were very limited in what we could do. The week after the mission in Bradford I moved on to Oxford University for their tri-annual mission, where there were 64 college guests for the week. Praise God for them and their willingness to help, but why were there none in Bradford?

The answer to Mr Carswell's question lies in the history of English evangelicalism. Late Victorian evangelical leaders, such as Bishop JC Ryle, focussed on Oxbridge as a way of counter-acting the rise of Anglo-Catholicism in the academy in which the English ruling elite were being educated.

In the 20th century this 'reach-the-few-to-reach-the-many' strategy led Oxbridge-educated evangelicals to focus on evangelism in the English public schools since these institutions were, and to a significant extent still are, the main feeders into Oxbridge. Though the Revd EJH Nash who founded the Iwerne ministry to the top public schools in the 1930s was not from an elite background himself, that does not alter the fact that he was pursuing the logic of Ryle's strategy. And anyway the evangelical leaders 'Bash' nurtured were from the requisite social background.

Now, however, evangelical leaders educated and converted post the social revolution of the 1960s are emerging who are seriously challenging the received late Victorian strategy while others remain tied to it. Therein lies the potential division.

Evangelicals who move out of the comfort zones could start feeling proud of themselves, looking down Pharisee-like on their brothers and sisters who continue to minister in the evangelical strongholds of the 'strategic' areas.

Evangelicals ministering in better-resourced settings could start feeling defensive, arguing that their brothers and sisters do not appreciate the complexities of larger set-ups or even accusing them of professional envy.

For the sake of evangelical unity, we need to remind ourselves of some non-negotiables:

1). The growth of Christ's Kingdom is what we should be passionate about, not the growth of our little kingdoms of influence whether up north or down south.

2). God's gospel of eternal salvation is for every sinner whom Christ calls to repentance, whether they live in Bradford or Battersea, Mayfair or Middlesborough.

3). No part of the harvest field is superior to another.

4). Gospel ministry is a vocation not a career.

On a practical front, it would enormously help to build a stronger culture of transferability in English evangelicalism if our ministers moved away from the practice of staying for a long time in large churches in affluent areas whilst ministering for a short time in small churches in less affluent areas.

An evangelical incumbent of a large university or suburban church who moved to a smaller church and led it into growth would set a really helpful precedent.

There is certainly no reason for curates staying in a large church for longer than three or four years before moving to a turn-around incumbency.

This issue is not going to go away. There is no excuse for the current inequity in resourcing Mr Carswell eloquently highlights. But we evangelicals do need to pray that we do not degenerate into an ungodly and damaging class war over evangelistic strategy.

Cranmer's Curate is blogging off for the next week or so to concentrate on the task of delivering his church's new magazine to every home in the parish. Youth group prayers for the effective functioning of cc's feet would be appreciated.