In her new book Downsizing: Letting Go of Evangelicalism’s Nonessentials (Eerdmans, Aug. 19), veteran Christian writer and blogger Michelle Van Loon says she’s had a “front-row pew” to the last 50 years of “the wild, often unruly branch of the Christian family tree known as evangelicalism.” PW spoke with Van Loon about what she believes the modern faith movement should leave behind in this time of transition.
What was your impetus for writing Downsizing?
The theologian Phyllis Tickle argued in her book The Great Emergence that every 500 years or so, the Church goes through a period of transition. The idea of a 500-year rummage sale, as she called it, has been helpful as I recognize that evangelicalism is in a time of transition and recalibration. We know that change is coming for the movement, and we need to know what is worth keeping.
What do you mean by “downsizing” as it relates to evangelicalism?
I’m using it in the context of what happens when there is a shift or change in your life, perhaps a move to a smaller place or cleaning out a family member’s house. There are things that have to be left behind, some going to the burn pile, other things donated or recycled. The same concept applies to evangelicalism, though evangelicalism is one small piece of the Church and doesn’t hold its whole 500-year history since the Protestant Reformation.
What are the top three things the evangelical movement can downsize?
First is our reliance on marketing and method. Evangelicalism often has a mile-wide, inch-deep spirituality. We’re not creating disciples who can endure; the shallowness and sloganeering cannot endure. Second is the addiction to valuing the wedding to political power. We are married to political power, which is not doing us any favors. Third is prosperity. We confuse gifts with the giver, treating health, wealth, and successful families as if we deserve them and that we can earn them. The reality is that those versions of prosperity have crept into every crack and crevice of evangelicalism. If you have a bankruptcy, a prodigal child, mental illness, or a family member in the LGBTQ+ community, then you aren’t (seen as) prospering spiritually.
Why do you say downsizing is essential for evangelicalism?
Thoughtful people can choose to reflect and repent, and to do the honest and lonely work of creating a legacy that will continue. The alternative is an eventual implosion that is surely coming, because it cannot go on like this. We can do the work and adjust accordingly, or God will do the work for us.
What do you say to pastors and laypeople interested in downsizing?
For pastors, search out the people who have slipped away from your congregation and become their students. If you are willing to listen without fixing or judging, what they say may be the sermon you most need to hear. For laypeople, if bad things have happened, lament those things. Pretending evangelicalism hasn’t hurt you doesn’t make any of it go away and may get in the way of where God might be calling you to go.
How do you dream of evangelicalism looking in the future?
Evangelicalism will be humble, downsized, and marked by things that look a lot like what Jesus preached on the Sermon on the Mount, full of sacrificial living, love, and humility.
