By Rollin Grams, Bible and Mission.
Jakob Spener (1635-1705) was a German theologian concerned for the renewal of the Lutheran Church of his day. He inaugurated a movement that came to be known as Pietism. Pietism in Lutheranism is one strand of what we might call Evangelicalism. Reaching back to our roots gives us food for thought about renewal of Evangelicalism itself in our day.
In Pia Desideria, Spener begins with three characteristics that should be pursued by the Church. First, he says that the Church and individuals should pursue perfection, even if it is not attainable in this life. The Reformation’s focus on salvation by God’s grace through faith left the question Paul Himself asked in Romans 6.1: ‘Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?’ Pietism sought to raise the standard. Our Christian life is a call to perfection. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 7.1: ‘Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.’ One wing of contemporary Evangelicalism has made peace with sin in the issue of the day, homosexuality, saying that only actions and not desires (‘orientations’) are a matter for Christian ethics. Paul speaks of a cleansing from every defilement not only of the body but also of the spirit.
Second, Spener says that the Church should be free of offenses—it must reprove and, if necessary, remove those who are so afflicted by sin. Western mainline denominations–all declining in membership for sixty years–were once orthodox. Evangelicals have been leaving over this time, sometimes remaining independent churches and sometimes forming new denominations. These changes have left challenges on Spener’s second point. Of course, the mainline denominations declined to reprove its clergy because they welcomed certain sins. Evangelicals still hanging onto these denominations are in the situation of suffering from their sinful afflictions. They are reduced to hospice ministry to a dying ‘Church’. Evangelicals who leave these denominations and become independent churches lack an adequate relationship to the Church in many ways–theologically, historically, communally, missionally, and, to the point, judicially. How many stories have we heard of an independent, large church formed around a popular orator in the pulpit that falls apart when he sins or the church sins against him? The Church fails when it fails to have systems in place to keep it free from offenses. Soft ordination requirements, low standards for clergy, and insufficient procedures for removing clergy contribute to the afflictions of the Church. Oversized churches reduce pastoral oversight and care to almost nil.