c. 1996 Religion News Service

(RNS)-More than 100 evangelical leaders meeting recently in Cambridge, Mass., have issued a document harshly critical of their Protestant movement, saying some members have strayed so far from basic biblical tenets that the word evangelical has lost its meaning.”The evangelical world today is losing its biblical fidelity, moral compass and missionary zeal,”the Cambridge Declaration of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals concludes.

The document’s signatories were not disclosed, and the statement did not single out specific individuals or groups for criticism.

Traditionally, evangelicals have identified themselves as conservative Protestant Christians who regard the Bible as God’s infallible word and seek to convert people to Christianity.

The declaration’s writers state that evangelical pastors, scholars and other leaders-including themselves-need to repent for their willingness to be dominated by the norms of popular culture rather than the historic principles of the Protestant Reformation.

The document says, for example, that pastors should preach only about the Bible rather than on their opinions or”the ideas of the age.”Clergy also should have more oversight over the”doctrinal content of the music”in worship services, the document declares.

Among the targets of criticism are churches in the so-called”church growth movement,”a hallmark of which is fast-growing megachurches with congregations of 2,000 or more. The document contends that such churches focus too much on marketing strategies to fill their pews.”The marketing orientation in many churches . . . (reduces) Christian faith to the principles and methods which bring success to secular corporations,”the declaration states.

The document also is critical of clergy who preach a gospel that combines Scripture with ideas about self-esteem. Such an approach, according to the declaration, instills a”false confidence”in human ability rather than focusing on God’s grace.”Therapeutic technique, marketing strategies, and the beat of the entertainment world often have far more to say about what the church wants, how it functions and what it offers, than does the Word of God,”the declaration states.

The Rev. David Wells, a vice president of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, said his group seeks reform of the evangelical movement. The alliance’s 14-member council invited more than 100 people to a meeting in April and issued the declaration at the gathering’s conclusion.

Although some participants wanted to”name names”of clergy and groups targeted for criticism, they were overruled by their peers, Wells said.”We kept ourselves to simply talking about ideas,”he said.”It (the document) is expressing the judgment that the evangelical house is in considerable disorder,”said Wells, a historical and systematic theology professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass. Wells also is the author of”No Place for Truth, or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology?”.

Wells said a majority of the 115 people who attended the Cambridge meeting signed the five-page document, but the signers decided not to identify themselves publicly.”Our thinking was that if we had published the signatures, then people would have said that we’re simply trying to make the statement fly on the wings of the prominent people who were there,”Wells said.”So we thought it was much better to let the statement stand on its own.” Those in attendance included members of a variety of denominations, including conservative Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Lutherans, as well as officials of evangelical ministries and educational institutions.

The declaration prompted a variety of reactions.”This is an admirable attempt to give theological precision to a movement that’s been lacking in such precision for a long time,”said Michael Cromartie, director of the Evangelical Studies Project of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

Darryl G. Hart, an associate professor of church history at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, said it will be difficult to enforce the theological principles in the declaration.

Many evangelical ministries are”only accountable to the market,”Hart said. If people keep listening to their broadcasts and keep buying their publications, those groups probably won’t change their ways, he said.

Hart said heresy trials would be a more effective means for doctrinal enforcement than”abstract”declarations, but he added,”I don’t think anybody has the stomach for it.” (STORY CAN END HERE. OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

The Cambridge Declaration comes about a month after the National Association of Evangelicals released its”Evangelical Manifesto,”a document that defines beliefs and details goals for unity among evangelicals in the coming century.

David Melvin, the Illinois-based association’s vice president, said his organization drafted its document for some of the same reasons Alliance members felt the need for the Cambridge Declaration.”If you look at our manifesto, …we’ve got some statements of repentance which are very, very similar,”he said.

Still, Melvin praised the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals declaration.”In this new and bizarre culture called the post-modern world where truth is wholly relative, it’s calling us back to the gospel ministry,”he said.”These guys are about reclaiming the essence of evangelicalism.” Organizers of the Cambridge meeting said they hope to conduct other conferences and encourage the writing of books about the state of evangelicalism.

END BANKS