“Let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
Amos 5:24
The Broad Vision: Christianizing the Social Order
In the early twentieth century, many evangelicals caught a sweeping vision of faith that sought to “Christianize the social order.” The Gospel, they believed, was not limited to saving souls but was a force to redeem society itself. The Federal Council of Churches (FCC), founded in 1908, became the most visible expression of this conviction—mobilizing Protestant denominations to fight for labor rights, racial justice, education, and public morality.
The leading voice of this movement, Walter Rauschenbusch, described the kingdom of God as “not a matter of getting individuals to heaven, but of transforming life on earth into the harmony of heaven.” He argued that sin infected not just individual hearts but also “social structures, institutions, and systems”—and thus the work of Christ must confront both.
Amid the despair of the Great Depression, this social gospel gained renewed urgency. Churches fed the hungry, organized cooperatives, and called for moral renewal in economics and government. Many saw this as a faithful embodiment of Jesus’ words: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18). The goal was not perfection, but as Rauschenbusch put it, “a movement toward greater equality and brotherhood.”
The Backlash: Smaller Tents and Sharper Boundaries
Yet this vision of a socially active church alarmed many fundamentalists who feared the loss of theological clarity and spiritual urgency. To them, the FCC’s platform sounded less like the gospel of grace and more like the politics of progress. The charge of “wolves in sheep’s clothing” became common as critics accused social gospel leaders of exchanging the cross for reform.
Out of this backlash, a group of conservative Protestant leaders met in St. Louis in the early 1940s, determined to recover what they saw as the true evangelical mission. Their aim was not to reject social concern altogether but to recenter Christianity on personal salvation, biblical authority, and evangelism.
This “smaller tent” movement came to define neo-evangelicalism—a term that took shape as figures like Carl F. H. Henry and Harold Ockenga called for both intellectual rigor and spiritual revival. Then, in 1949, a young preacher named Billy Graham held a historic crusade in Los Angeles. His message was clear and personal: “You must be born again.”
Graham’s preaching captured the postwar mood—a longing for moral clarity and personal renewal. “Man is not only a sinner,” he declared, “but sin has twisted and perverted every part of his being. Only the Gospel of Christ can bring peace to the human heart.” His evangelistic zeal reignited the evangelical imagination, but it also marked a retreat from the broad social mission of the earlier generation.
The Continuing Tension: Faith, Action, and Public Witness
The tension between the social gospel and the smaller tent has never truly disappeared. It still shapes debates over whether Christians should prioritize evangelism or social justice, personal piety or systemic reform.
Reinhold Niebuhr, who emerged from the social gospel tradition but saw its naivety about human sin, warned: “Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.” His realism reminded the church that transforming society must reckon with the persistence of human fallenness.
Meanwhile, John Stott—a leader of global evangelical renewal—insisted that evangelism and social action are not rivals but “two blades of the same pair of scissors.” In his book Christian Mission in the Modern World, Stott wrote: “We must not exalt evangelism at the expense of social responsibility, nor social action at the expense of evangelism. They are partners in the Gospel.”
Echoing this integration, Lesslie Newbigin—missionary, theologian, and prophet of public faith—observed that “the church is only true to itself when it exists for the sake of the world.” The Gospel, he said, is public truth: it shapes not just our private hopes but the way we live together in neighborhoods, cities, and nations.
Thus, the true challenge is not choosing between social gospel or evangelical revival, but recovering both dimensions in faithful tension—heart and hand, conversion and compassion, salvation and service.
Reflection and Prayer
“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” — Amos 5:24
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” — Mark 16:15
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, You came proclaiming good news to the poor and freedom to the captive. Forgive us when we shrink Your kingdom to our comfort or confine Your love to our likeness. Give us hearts that burn for both truth and justice, and hands ready to serve in Your name. May our faith be both personal and public, both deep and wide—strong enough to hold together Your grace and Your call to transform the world.
Amen.
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