two great links on evangelical fadism

I stumbled upon these posts today and since they tie in with my post from yesterday (Insights, pt. 2), I thought I pass them along (doing so as someone who has, in the past, been very guilty carrying on Christian fads).

The first, "Evangelical Fads Don't Always Reach Others: Internet Manifesto Calls For More Lasting Relationships" comes from The Morning News (Northwest Arkansas). Here's a taste: "[Joe] Carter is convinced that evangelicals need to spend less time striving to make quick conversions and more time training disciples who stay the course."

That article refers to Joe Carters Manifesto ("Fads and Fixtures: Ten Deadly Trappings of Evangelism") which I tracked down. It's actually a couple of years old and is posted on the Evangelical Outpost website. Here's a sneak peak: "'Virtually all the people on Time magazine's list of 'The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals' share at least one glaringly significant trait,' says Phillip Johnson, 'For the most part, these are the fadmakers.' Phil goes on to list a number of 'cheerleaders for whatever is fashionable', including the usual suspects such as Rick Warren and Tim LaHaye, and explains why their programs are fads: Not one of those movements or programs even existed 35 years ago. Most of them would not have been dreamed of by evangelicals merely a generation ago. And, frankly, most of them will not last another generation....The following are ten fixtures of evangelism that I find particularly harmful. None of them are inherently pernicious (well, except for #10) but they have a tendency to be used in ways that are counterproductive to their intended purposes."