The Next Evangelicalism Quotes

“The individualized narcissism of our society translates into our church life in not only our self-absorbed worship and our longing for sermons that speak to us or bless us personally but even in how we live out our church community life. A therapeutic culture translates into the context of the local church with an individualized and personalized approach to counseling and self-care. Community is lost in the process of a highly individualized approach. Even small group ministry, which is supposed to be the primary expression of community life in the American evangelical church, often yields a narcissistic, individualistic focus. Small groups become a place of support and counsel rather than a place where Scripture challenges the participants toward kingdom living.”
― Soong-Chan Rah, The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity

“In another important area of church life, the worship life of the congregation, the Western priority of the individual determines the approach to worship over the biblical guidelines for worship. Worship in the white captivity of the church is oftentimes a collection of individuals who happen to be in the same room. Worship is just between the individual and God, and the church service exists to help facilitate that individual communion.”
― Soong-Chan Rah, The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity

“Western, white captivity can be overcome by confronting original sin and practicing the art of corporate confession. Corporate confession begins with awareness - the awareness of the reality of corporate sin and the racially oppressive history connected to that corporate sin.”
― Soong-Chan Rah, The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity

“White Christians need to see the value and worth of nonwhite leadership beyond the context of serving only ethnic-specific or immigrant churches.”
― Soong-Chan Rah, The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity

“If you are a white Christian wanting to be a missionary in this day and age, and you have never had a nonwhite mentor, then you will not be a missionary. You will be a colonialist. Instead of taking the gospel message into the world, you will take an Americanized version of the gospel.”
― Soong-Chan Rah, The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity

“The doctrine of the incarnation stands in opposition to our obsession with mobility.”
― Soong-Chan Rah, The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity

“Too often, ethnic minorities are asked to put aside their discomfort to come and sit at the white table.”
― Soong-Chan Rah, The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity

“If we use the language of individual sin to address sin, then no individual is guilty...But if we use the language of corporate sin, then we are all complicit.”
― Soong-Chan Rah, The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity

“How do we measure "success" in the typical American church - by the standards of Scripture or by the standards of the American consumer value system?”
― Soong-Chan Rah, The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity

“Our reduction of sin to a personal issue means that we are unwilling to deal with social structural evils, and this reduction prevents us from understanding the full expression of human sinfulness and fallenness.”
― Soong-Chan Rah, The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity

“Worship in the white captivity of the church is oftentimes a collection of individuals who happen to be in the same room. Worship is just between the individual and God, and the church service exists to help facilitate that individual communion.”
― Soong-Chan Rah, The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity

“At times, the evangelical church has been indistinguishable from the Western, white American culture.”
― Soong-Chan Rah, The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity

“Fifty years ago, if you were asked to describe a typical Christian in the world, you could confidently assert that person to be an upper middle-class, white male, living in an affluent and comfortable Midwest suburb. If you were to ask the same question today, that answer would more likely be a young Nigerian mother on the outskirts of Lagos, a university student in Seoul, South Korea, or a teenage boy in Mexico City. European and North American Christianity continue to decline, while African, Asian, and Latin-American Christianity continue to increase dramatically. In the year 1900, Europe and North America comprised 82 percent of the world's Christian population. In 2005, Europe and North America comprised 39% of the world's Christian population with African, Asian, and Latin American Christians making up 60 percent of the world's Christian population. By 2050, African, Asian, and Latin American Christians will constitute 71 percent of the world's Christian population. These numbers do not account for the fact that the majority of Christians in North America will be nonwhite. Global Christianity is clearly non-white.”
― Soong-Chan Rah, The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity