Virginia Pastor Joe Carter, who wrote about the 2025 State of the Church results for The Gospel Coalition, said they point to “doctrinal disaster.” Due to all the “unorthodox views” evident among evangelical Christians, Carter surmises that the term “evangelical” has become more of a political signifier than a religious label.
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Carter cited “moralistic therapeutic deism masquerading as Christian doctrine,” noting that it “reduces the gospel to a warm sentiment rather than a plan for divine rescue.” Americans’ lax attitudes toward church attendance and membership lead to this “theological ignorance,” the pastor wrote.
Carter continued:
When so-called evangelicals receive more spiritual formation from social media, talk radio, and cable news than from a local church, their drift into heretical beliefs becomes all but inevitable. Admittedly, too many churches have made themselves unattractive by adopting the model of a social club or a political action committee. But the local church is still essential because it’s the institution Christ established to guard the gospel, shepherd his people, and equip the saints. When evangelicals view church membership as optional, they’re essentially saying that Christ’s design for the Christian life is dispensable.
Carter concluded by urging church leaders to emphasize catechetical instruction, exercise church discipline, and set church membership requirements. He also warned against dumbing down theological content, saying churches must prioritize biblical literacy and show people how doctrine applies to everyday life.
Church leaders need to choose between shepherding their flocks toward “biblical orthodoxy” and continuing to manage “the decline of American Christianity,” Carter wrote. By acting now, he said, the gospel message will “survive in recognizable form among those who claim to champion it most ardently.”
