An article from Associated Baptist Press discusses the movement away from ‘Conservative Evangelicalism’ that appears to be happening in that ‘other camp.’

Stetzer said the Social Gospel was based on a "post-millennial" theology that believed it possible to establish God’s kingdom on Earth. A main reason it lost influence, he said, was introduction of philosophies and theologies that moved some mainline churches away from positions that conservatives viewed as orthodox Christianity.

Today’s younger evangelicals are different, he said, in that they reject teaching that undermines fundamental tenets of Christianity and instead "believe they are placing an emphasis on fulfilling all of the commands in Scripture and ministering to others rather than an eschatological imperative."

I don’t know what to make of this as far as CEs are concerned, but I wonder if the movement leftwards away from fundamentalism isn’t part of a broader movement leftwards in general. This appears to be occurring all over Christendom and is a ‘sign of the times’ more than anything else.

If there is a connection, it suggests to me that there is really nothing wrong with Fundamentalism per se, but we are in ‘the apostasy’ and the faltering footsteps from within our own ranks may be part of a general movement.

I offer this as a suggestion not as conclusion, lest any should misunderstand.

I am writing in response to a series of posts by a pastor in Alberta (God’s country), Clint Humfrey. I like Clint because he is an Albertan, a cowboy, and a preacher of the Gospel (not necessarily in that order!). In my earlier post, I commented on the similarities between conservative evangelical frustration with the evangelical scene and the frustrations of early fundamentalists with the church of their day.

The concerns of current conservative evangelicals, though perhaps discouraging to them, are encouraging to today’s fundamentalists because we hope there might be a widening of the circle of faithful men of God as a result. This is at least part of the motivation behind the enthusiasm of ‘young fundamentalists’ for the conservative evangelical speakers and gatherings they talk so much about. (My concern with them is that they appear willing to discard fundamentalism in the process of forming a wider fellowship.)

With that in mind, then, for fundamentalists these concerns represent an opportunity for revitalizing the Bible believing church. That is why I am hopeful of conversations with evangelicals. Still, there are a number of hurdles to be overcome before any satisfactory new movement can emerge.

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In this space, we devote a good deal of attention towards the concerns of current fundamentalists, especially the concerns that stem from the push for a closer tie to ‘Conservative Evangelicals’ by some who call themselves Fundamentalists. Some would probably characterize my stance towards that proposal as wholly negative. That characterization would completely misunderstand my position. I am all for closer ties between conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists. But…

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