The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity

With the demographic center of Christianity shifting from the continents of North America and Europe to the continents of Africa, Asia and Latin America, Dr. Soong-Chan Rah asserts that there is now a corresponding shift from a Euro-Centric American evangelicalism to a multiethnic American Christianity. While there has been a noticeable decline among the population of white evangelicals, the influx of Christian immigrants has helped to sustain and grow the American church in the ethnic minority and multiethnic communities. Despite these changes in the demographics of American Christianity, Rah argues that there is still a Western, white cultural captivity of the American evangelical church, which prevents progression towards the ‘next evangelicalism’. The power dynamic of American Christianity needs to be addressed in order move towards a more multicultural expression of the church.