Austrian Evangelicals Reject the Sufficiency of Scripture

https://www.christiandaily.com/news/austrian-church-to-broadcast-pop-style-worship-service-live-on-national-tv      

Some will celebrate this as a mark of success and entry into the mainstream of society. In reality it simply testifies to Evangelicalism's truncated understanding of Scriptural authority. While lip service is paid to Scripture Alone, an episode such as this reveals how the doctrine becomes an empty and hollow profession when divorced from the concept of Sufficiency.

The Scriptures are authoritative they claim, but insufficient in terms of the Church working out everything from personal piety, to the dynamics of the Christian life, and pretty much the whole of ecclesiology. They do not believe the Scriptures teach us how to order the Church and how we are to worship. Instead they turn to pop culture, psychology, and the latest marketing strategies. This is why today's Evangelical worship looks and feels more like a combination of pop concert, Ted Talk, and therapy session - and in some cases a political rally.

Further this approach to evangelism and church growth is also marked by a rejection of what Paul calls the foolishness of preaching. The gospel message is nonsensical to the lost and its presentation is through proclamation, not philosophy, not gimmicks, not sleight-of-hand, not slick marketing presentations, and not with world accoutrements and adornment. It is simple yet profound, something that defies the world and its entire way of thinking and approaching existential questions. It relies on the Holy Spirit to do the work. Evangelicalism rejects this and instead attempts to borrow from and build upon the world's ways and thinking in terms of reaching out to people. So much of evangelism is akin to the sales tactic of 'closing the deal'.

As such the Evangelical movement produces worship services that are tailored to the unbeliever, consist mostly of entertainment, and relies on leaders who try to be 'cool' and relatable and yet more often than not are clowns and (in terms of the gospel) incompetent.

Worship is foolishness to the lost. The worship of the Church is an activity limited to the Church. It's not public in the sense many wish to imagine it - with steepled buildings on the main street and the blending of Christian and civic ritual. It's covenantal and holy - not profane. Unbelievers are not turned away, but there's no evidence in the New Testament (or Old for that matter) to suggest we are to invite them, let alone make them the focus of attention. We evangelise as we interact with the world but our meetings are not geared toward converting unbelievers. They can attend but in reality they're not part of what we're doing and if they partake of one of the central aspects of our worship (the Eucharist), they condemn themselves.

As such it's certainly debatable as to whether or not it's prudent to broadcast worship services over the public airwaves. But if we are to assume this is indeed legitimate, then we must lament this Austrian example as a wasted opportunity.

In the land of the Habsburgs and amid Habsburg nostalgia, do they think this is going to 'win' people over - and to what? It's little more than fluffy bubble-gum Christianity that is (as is evident from the pictures) already confused and compromised. This is not the religion of the New Testament.

Back in the 1990's I was in Austria on multiple occasions and in one southern town a friend and I visited some American missionaries who had set up in a store-front - there's nothing wrong with that. But unfortunately I saw their outreach attempts were based on these same kinds of gimmicks, I remember puppet shows in particular. It was all nonsense and really disappointing. I felt like any of the Austrians who were converted to their brand of Evangelical Christianity would need to later undergo another conversion away from it.

Let us pray that solid Biblically-rooted works can be raised up in Austria and other places. The Evangelical approach harms every bit as much as it might help. Undoing the effects of a false gospel and a false understanding of Christianity simply makes the task that much more difficult and leads to the hardening of many hearts.