Aaron noted in his piece, Evangelicals tend to be focused on spreading the gospel and doing church planting. But even here, they are not innovative, nor do they have a unique way of doing things from within. They generally borrow mainstream business techniques and apply them to churches. The same with media. TV evangelists. Contemporary Christian Music. When you are trying to make yourself “relevant” to the world, you cannot lead. Catholics don’t generally bend the sacral life of the church to taste and fashion the way that Evangelicals do. Evangelicals want to be seen as “mainstream” average Americans. They want to “meet people where they are at.” They want mainstream American culture, but safe for Christians. They don’t seem to want a distinct culture of their own. Because of the individualism we discussed above, Evangelicals think of America as something that is essentially “Evangelical” in character. I think, as a result, they tend to follow rather than lead when it comes to “America.”
