In my discussions with evangelicals, all those years ago, I often raised this question. Very often, people told me that it’s not about what church you’re in. It’s about having a personal relationship with Jesus. But when I dug deeper, it was clear that most of them felt better for having left the Catholic Church. Most of the more zealous evangelicals were ex-Catholics. Back in the 1970s there was a bit of a revival in Ireland in the charismatic movement, and many of the more serious-minded people, including some priests and nuns, ended up leaving the church to form Christian fellowships.
It might be a little easier nowadays to stay in the Catholic Church, because the web is full of evangelical resources, so you could participate in the evangelical world by attending online evangelical services, listening to talks, Christian music, and so on. But what would be the point in remaining in the Catholic Church, if you disagree with so many of its doctrines? And you’d be missing out on close fellowship with fellow believers, like-minded people, who are enthusiastic about God’s word.
There is an evangelical Catholic movement. I sometimes wonder how the church sees them. Even though evangelicals in the Republic of Ireland don’t like to classify themselves as Protestant, evangelical doctrine aligns very much with the doctrines of the Reformation. So, if the Catholic Church, rejected these doctrines then, is it likely that they’ll accept them now? Well, maybe they’ll tolerate them. After all, in some ways evangelicals are more likely to believe in the fundamentals of the Christian faith than many nominal Catholics, who have little interest in any doctrine.
Another issue is how evangelicals see Catholics. Throughout the New Testament, there’s a huge emphasis on keeping the message of the gospel pure. For example, in Galatians, Paul warns against the Judaizers, who were Christians who wanted all the gentiles to keep Jewish ceremonial laws. Evangelicals sometimes see the Catholic Church as a little like these. It’s felt that the church shifts people away from dependence on Christ and back into legalism and salvation by works, or partly by works. And throughout the Old Testament, you can always detect tension between the ritualists and those who had a personal living faith.
My biggest problem with the Catholic Church was that every Catholic in Ireland was deemed a Christian, regardless of what they really believed or how they really lived. It seemed to be the very opposite of what a church should be. There were missionary initiatives, but they often seemed to be more about making you a stronger Catholic than pointing you to Jesus. And of course, there was a sort of tribalism between the Irish Catholics and the Protestants, who were respected, but seen as West Brits. In the North of Ireland, things were much worse.
Things are a little different now. Ireland is more secular and only the more committed people attend Mass, or at least it seems so. So maybe it feels more like a Christian community.
Having said all that, I do sympathize with people who are reluctant to join evangelical groups. Joining a group of serious-minded people, be it a religious, political, or a charitable organization means that you might encounter people who might be zealous but are prone to be bossy or silly or whatever. Well, you can get that with any group of people. So, you can get annoying people in evangelical churches. I’m sure I’ve been annoying myself at times😀.
In the Catholic Church, you have a lot of freedom. You can get involved in various societies, or you can just pop along to Mass on Sunday and steer clear of everyone. I think it’s important for evangelical groups to give people that same freedom. A person with minimal involvement in the church can still love God, love others, and trust solely in Christ for their salvation. They will most likely get close to some other believers, but this shouldn’t be forced on them.
They say the squeaky wheel gets the grease. In the New Testament church, we read about Paul addressing troublesome ‘super spiritual’ squeaky wheels in his epistles, but they were undoubtedly thousands of other believers who maintained a quiet witness. If you are open to committing your life to Christ, you shouldn’t feel that you need to model yourself on the squeaky wheels. In all my years in evangelical churches, I’ve come to respect all kinds of people. We do need the zealous opinionated people, but if a group is brimming over with them, it can very soon become unpleasant. But at the same time, where would we be without people with zeal and vision.
I also wonder would it be generally more efficient if people of different persuasions could share resources more. Evangelicalism can be quite fragmented, as can broader Christendom. For example, think of all the attractive old church buildings that get demolished or turned into restaurants. I sometimes wonder how feasible it would be to use these as broader resource centres for Christians of all types in a given area. You could have one generic meeting each week where Christians of all types could gather for worship, if they so desired, maybe a little like Songs of Praise. And then, provision would be made for individual group meetings, which would be made up of evangelicals, or traditional Catholic people, or people who are into social action and community work or whatever. They could work apart or work together on initiatives. I’m not sure that it would work to have them all in the same church or denomination. Maybe the Church of England is a little like that because there, you might get evangelicals, liberals, and high church people, all in the same denomination. But then again, they’re always fighting with each other😀.
Over my 45 years as an evangelical, I have changed my mind on a lot of issues, and as I get older, I’m probably getting a little softer and more tolerant of other opinions. So, I would leave the decision on whether to stay in the Catholic Church to the individual. But for me, I think that evangelical churches, such as Baptist-type churches align more with what I see in the New Testament. They’ve certainly done me a lot of good.
Hibernia Gospel 