Just for the record, I thought I would list some of the problems, as I see them, with liberal churches like Michael’s hypothetical Oakwood Church.

Poor Scripture Knowledge

The issue of the authority of the bible has become so polarizing that it seems people line up on two sides: Either it’s the perfect, infallible, authoritative Word of God, or it’s not worth reading. The latter is a grave mistake on the part of liberal churches.

There is a danger among liberal Christians that we will forget that the bible is the primary source and foundation of our faith in Christ and God. In contrast to “bible-thumpers”, some of us may adopt a view that rejects the bible as being of little value, full of racism, sexism, close-minded authors, and a very narrow world view.

By doing this, we shut ourselves off to the main source of Christian and Jewish inspiration over the centuries, as well as the deeper meanings of our faith. The symptoms include general lack of bible studies in some liberal churches and occasional lack of bible teaching.

This is bad for several reasons. First, all scripture is inspired by God and is profitable teaching, reproof, correction, and training righteousness. That doesn’t mean that we have to believe that every word was written by God, but it does mean that we need to keep the scriptures by the center of our Christian experience. It is, in many ways, our “daily bread” in a spiritual sense. Even the parts we don’t understand or agree with can help us grow in our walk.

Secondly, it makes it real hard for us to converse with (or argue with) our conservative brethren in Christ. If we can’t have a common foundation on the authority of scripture, at least we can try to keep up with them and our understanding and knowledge of this book which we hold dear regardless of which branch of the faith tradition is followed. The bible really should be used to bring Christians together, not drive them apart.

Rejection of Tradition

As nearly all progressive churches are protestant in descent, we have a long background of rejection of traditional, ceremony, rituals, and other trappings and window dressing. This isn’t found exclusively in progressive churches, mind you, but most of the conservative churches who reject ritualized Christianity do so in a way that attempts to “regain” a purer form of the faith, while liberals look to “discard” the old versions and move beyond them. Neither extreme is an appropriate position regarding the traditions of the church.

Liberal churches need to embrace our heritage and rejoice in our traditions, without getting bound down by them. We need to recognize that the faith we have was passed down to us by generations and generations of our predecessors, and that if it were not for them, we would not know Christ at all.

That doesn’t mean we have to venerate those who came before us or overlook their faults; but by rejecting our heritage, for good and for bad, we are rejecting the universality of the body of Christ. We are one in the spirit, and that includes our history.

The rituals, rites, and ceremonies of the church throughout the ages help remind us of that history, the sacrifices that have been made, and the love that has been shown to get us where we are. They identify us as a body of believers who have something in common with others, through our practices. These range from sacraments such as the cup and the bread, and baptism, to traditions such as the doxology or the Lord’s Prayer.

It may be possible to be a Christian and reject many of the trappings of the Christian experience—but why would you want to? Ceremony and ritual play a very important part, and liberal churches often fail to acknowledge this, especially in their desire to distance themselves from “orthodoxy.”

Weak Evangelism

Part of every Christian’s calling is the spreading of the “good news” of Christ—that’s what “gospel” is all about, after all. However, liberal churches tend to be quite bad at evangelism. The primary reason for this is lack of a strong gospel message.

As progressives, we tend to be pretty accepting of diversity. You’re conservative Christian? That’s cool. Jewish? Good for you. Muslim? Way to go. Buddhist? Hey, all roads end up the same place.

So if we really believe that, why would we bother to spread the “good news”? It doesn’t sound like anyone needs it! (Except maybe those conservative Christians, who have to be less nasty.)

As such, we devote our efforts instead to things like social justice. Which is a great cause in and of itself, but it certainly doesn’t do a lot to spread the news of Christ to others. But doing so seems kind of… pushy.

By contrast, our conservative evangelical brethren have an easier time. They’ve got a strong motive: These people will be lost to hell forever if we don’t let them know. And they’ve got a good message: You guys need to hear this. God loves you and offers you a way out.

The liberal church’s message is a lot weaker. God loves you, and wants you to work for justice? God calls you to be a Christian, or maybe a Jew, or if you want, Buddhist, or…?

Progressive Christians need to clearly articulate a gospel message. Simply arguing for social justice, equal rights, and progressive values doesn’t get you far enough. You might as well just be a liberal atheist. What reason is there for someone to become a liberal Christian?

By and large, it turns out that liberal Christianity is a great home to second-time Christians like myself. People who grew up within the Christian tradition, fell away, and then came back to a liberal branch of the faith. This lets them keep both their Christian heritage and their liberal values, and eliminates the (false) feeling that there’s a conflict between the two. But it doesn’t provide much of anything to the “unsaved,” those people who have never been Christians before. Why would an atheist or agnostic bother?

Anyway, those are my three big ones. There are smaller ones, but these represent, as I see them, the weakest parts of the progressive Christian experience. There are a number of positives as well, and there are weaknesses in the conservative traditions too, but for now I am not going to just cheerlead for “my side.”

Thoughts?