Christian Retailing

Christian publishing, media misses the mark? Print Email
Written by Staff   
Thursday, 12 March 2009 11:49 AM America/New_York
An opinion piece that sees "a major collapse of evangelical Christianity" within the next ten years has many people talking-and provides plenty of discussion material for those in the Christian products industry.

In a column for The Christian Science Monitor, Michael Spencer argues that "the billions of dollars we've spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it."

And that's not all. "Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community. Coming generations of Christians are going to be monumentally ignorant and unprepared for culture-wide pressures."

Looking ahead, he sees some signs of hope. Among them, that "a small band will work hard to rescue the movement from its demise through theological renewal. This is an attractive, innovative, and tireless community with outstanding media, publishing, and leadership development."

Spencer's original essays, from which the Monitor article was drawn, can be found at his Internetmonk.com Web site, which he describes as "dispatches from the post evangelical wilderness." 

What do you think about his assessment?