[Thigmaswams]

I read an interesting article today in the Christian Science Monitor regarding the future of Evanglicalism which is written by one who seems himself to be an Evangelical.

The article is about what he believes is the soon coming collaspe of Evangelicalism in about the next 10 years give or take. That inevitable crumbling he blames largely on the evangelical's ability to pass on their faith and culture to their offspring...that their attempts at Christian education and Christian counterculture product placement/branding are mostly variations on preaching to the choir. While that might be an interesting predicition to explore that would not of itself justify mention of it here. However, in the article he did say something that does concern us as Orthodox:

In his "what will be left" subsection he says
Two of the beneficiaries will be the Roman Catholic and Orthodox communions. Evangelicals have been entering these churches in recent decades and that trend will continue, with more efforts aimed at the "conversion" of Evangelicals to the Catholic and Orthodox traditions. A little further down he adds
Will the evangelicalizing of Catholic and Orthodox communions be a good development? One can hope for greater unity and appreciation, but the history of these developments seems to be much more about a renewed vigor to "evangelize" Protestantism in the name of unity. It sounds to me like there are some sobering life lessons we as Orthodox can take from his analysis of the state of his own communion. It also sounds like whether we as a body are "evanglizing" Protestants or not, it won't be long before we can expect significant numbers of them flooding this way. And sounds to me like a forewarning to get our own houses in order, lay the foundations for expansion, and lay up the resources that will be needed to serve those who will be called to join us around the holy altar.