When the Church Forgot Christ: A Reckoning and a Way Home

There’s a version of the church that speaks the name of Jesus while resisting His way. I’ve been in its pulpits. I’ve taught under its systems. I’ve wept over its drift.

What we call “evangelicalism” in America today is not merely a denomination or voting bloc. It has become a cultural religion—and for many, the only Christianity they’ve ever seen.

But what happens when that religion no longer reflects the Christ it claims? What happens when the Gospel is reduced to performance, when mission becomes marketing, when church becomes machinery?

I believe that’s where we are. And I believe it’s time to say so.

What Went Wrong?

Here’s what I see. Not as an outsider. As one who’s been shaped in the middle of it.

1. The Gospel became a transaction, not a transformation.

We made salvation into a formula: say the prayer, get the afterlife. But Jesus didn’t say “believe in me and stay the same.” He said, “follow me.” That’s not marketing. That’s discipleship. The Gospel is not about conversion—it’s about becoming like Christ.

2. Mission became conquest.

Too often, “missionary work” looked like cultural domination. We didn’t bring Christ—we brought systems, language, politics, and pressure. We preached presence but practiced control. And in the process, we colonized more than we loved.

3. The Church became a brand.

We built churches like corporations. CEOs replaced shepherds. Performance replaced presence. Metrics replaced maturity. And somewhere along the way, we stopped looking like a body and started functioning like a business.

4. Jesus was recast in the image of white American power.

The most dangerous icon in evangelical history isn’t on a screen—it’s the whitewashed, nationalistic version of Jesus used to defend war, deny racism, justify patriarchy, and wrap faith in a flag. This is not the suffering servant. It’s a golden calf.

5. We silenced the prophets.

Voices that cried out for justice, for truth, for lament—they were called “divisive.” Survivors were told to forgive before they were believed. Black and brown believers were platformed, but not listened to. Women were expected to serve, but not speak. The result? Pain without repentance. Church without Christ.

What Do We Do?

I’m not interested in tearing things down without building a way forward. There is a Church worth belonging to. There is a Gospel still worth giving your life to. But we have to stop trying to rebrand what needs to be reborn.

Here’s what I believe the Church must become—again:

1. Incarnational, not institutional

The Word became flesh—not a formula. We don’t need more systems. We need more presence. More people willing to sit, stay, listen, weep, and walk.

2. Communal, not celebrity-driven

The future is not found in platforms. It’s found in tables. Discipleship doesn’t require a microphone. It requires mutuality, humility, and time.

3. Formational, not performative

We have to stop measuring success by attendance and start asking if we’re becoming more like Jesus. If we’re not being formed in love, then we’re not being formed at all.

4. Cruciform, not controlling

Jesus refused to seize power. He laid it down. He didn’t dominate culture—He dwelt in it, disrupted it, and died for it. Any gospel that seeks power without the cross is a gospel He never preached.

5. Prophetic, not polite

The Church must tell the truth—even when it implicates us. Silence is not neutrality. It’s permission. We must tear down the idols we’ve built in God’s name and return to the God who never needed them.

I Still Believe

This isn’t a call to leave the Church. It’s a call to be the Church. To live again as if Christ is real. To love as if the Spirit still moves. To repent as if holiness still matters. To hope as if the Kingdom has come near.

The church of empire is dying. Let it. The church of Christ is still alive—in the margins, in the ruins, in the wild and faithful places where love has not been silenced.

Let that Church rise again.

The full theological and historical essay, The False Gospel of Cultural Evangelicalism: A Theological, Historical, and Prophetic Reckoning, is available [here].