Restoring Protestant glory: A new generation's mission for Christian revival

If you’ve been online, you’ve seen the memes.

Next to the label “Catholic” is a world-famous tourist attraction, a European cathedral. Next to the label “Orthodox” is another world-famous tourist attraction, a Russian cathedral. Next to the label “Protestant” is a strip mall with a corporate-looking sign that says something like “Living Waters Church.”

If you haven’t been online, this is the perception that Generation Z has of the Christian landscape.

There is a conservative resurgence movement among Gen Z in reaction to the radical leftism and social decay that we grew up with. This flavor of conservatism isn’t simply “Republican” but is uniquely focused on tradition.

It is increasingly common among Gen Z males to support religion, monarchy, social hierarchies, and everything the Enlightenment destroyed. As a result, Christianity that looks or feels “traditional” is seen as attractive, and Christianity that feels “modern” — whether in style or beliefs — is seen as repulsive.

In some sense, this is a positive development because no society or religious identity can survive without rootedness in tradition. But the issue for Protestantism is that most young people see it as “modern” and therefore bad.

This is why, as a recent article from the New York Post observed, young men are leaving Protestantism in droves and converting to Eastern Orthodoxy, which they see as a more traditional alternative.

It is hard to blame them for thinking that.

The current reality is this: Only a small percentage of Protestant churches are holistically traditional.

A growing percentage of “Protestant” churches are actually “nondenominational,” meaning they have no connection to any particular Christian tradition. The overwhelming majority of such churches have very modern architecture and use contemporary worship music. They do not feel like traditional churches because they were specifically designed not to feel that way. Back in the 1990s, when tradition was seen as bad, they advertised themselves as “not your grandmother’s church.”

But now the tide has shifted — and it is coming back to bite them.

To make matters worse, the nondenominational style is making its way into mainstream Protestant churches. The New York Post story included examples of Christians leaving Protestantism because their churches switched from traditional to contemporary worship. They felt like Protestantism is always “changing” and that Orthodoxy “never” changes.

There is, in fact, a large group of Protestant churches that have mostly resisted stylistic changes. These are the mainline Protestant churches, which include the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, and the Presbyterian Church USA (which I am a member of), among others. Most of these churches still have beautiful stained glass buildings, sing hymns, use choirs and organs, and feel very traditional on the outside.

However, despite not changing their style, these churches have changed their doctrine.

Most, though not all, mainline Protestant churches are very theologically liberal and simply adopt whatever cultural or political views are most common on the left at any given time. Their preachers are notoriously liberal, their sermons are often political rallies, and their churches often display Pride flags.

The current reality is this: Only a small percentage of Protestant churches are holistically traditional.

Most Protestant churches with traditional beliefs have a very modern style, and most Protestant churches with traditional style have very modern beliefs. There are some exceptions. For example, the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod denomination is mostly traditional in belief and worship style.

There are conservative wings of all the mainline Protestant denominations. While most conservative offshoots from these denominations have a contemporary style, there are some churches that do not. However, these are the exceptions, not the rule.

Therefore, there is only one way for Protestantism to survive and harness this religious awakening among the youth: It’s to make Protestantism Protestant again.

People leave Protestantism because they believe they cannot find tradition, liturgy, beauty, or sacraments in Protestantism. This is not true, but on the surface, it may appear true because so many Protestants have abandoned their own religious heritage. Evangelicals, meanwhile, need to abandon the modern trend of nondenominational Christianity and return to the traditional Protestant institutions. Evangelicals need to abandon the watered-down pop-Christianity of televangelists and celebrity preachers and learn the traditional theology of the Reformation.

All of the Protestant Reformers — whether Martin Luther, John Calvin, Heinrich Bullinger, or Thomas Cranmer — cared deeply about the sacraments (baptism and communion). All of the Protestant Confessions (Westminster, Augsburg, Scots, and Heidelberg) confess the same apostolic faith as the early church as expressed in the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds, and they agree the sacraments are means of salvation under ordinary circumstances.

Protestant churches in America up until around 1960 were all beautiful masterpieces of carved stone and stained glass built by the hands of hardworking American Protestant men. Some of the greatest classical Christian music and hymns were written by Bible-believing Protestants such as Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Charles Wesley.

However, most modern Christians, whether Protestant or not, are unaware of this heritage.

Many people who leave “Protestantism” are not actually leaving Protestantism. They are leaving modern evangelicalism, which hardly reflects the beliefs and values of the Reformation. It is more similar to the religion of the Radical Reformation, which the mainstream Reformers like Luther and Calvin actually considered to be worse than Roman Catholicism.

It is good to leave evangelical and nondenominational Christianity, but doing so does not require leaving Protestantism.

In fact, leaving evangelicalism is often necessary for joining authentic Protestantism. The Protestant reformers did not see themselves as leaving Catholicism. They saw themselves as Western Catholics — but reformed by the word of God.

Part of the reason that American Christians abandoned traditional Protestantism is because Americans by nature have a rebellious mindset that demands the next “new” thing. Americans are not satisfied with what is tried, true, and has stood the test of time.

Many young Americans abandon their grandparents’ mainline churches because they’re “old” and “stuffy,” choosing instead to start new churches that are bustling with youthful energy. The consequence, however, is the death of tradition and long-lasting communities.

The previous generation of American Christians abandoned traditional denominations, worship, architecture, and theology, which caused younger generations to forget what traditional Protestantism offers. And now, they're choosing to leave it.

Mainline Protestantism is America’s religion.

Another reason why evangelicals are leaving mainline denominations is because they became liberal. But notice how liberals never leave institutions that are conservative. Leftists and marxists have a hijacking mindset. They are patient and spend years insidiously gaining influence in mainstream institutions for the purpose of taking them over — and they are usually successful.

Conservatives, on the other hand, have a retreatist mindset. They often leave institutions whenever they spot even the slightest hint of liberal drift.

Leftists never build great institutions — Christians do. Leftists just hijack them like a virus and turn them into leftist factories. Christians built Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and the great Protestant denominations. Leftists turned them into petri dishes of their ideology, and they were enabled by conservatives who always run away.

If conservative Christians are to reclaim their heritage, they need to leave their comfort zone and return to the institutions the left hijacked. If the left can hijack churches, Christians can take them back — unless we believe Christians are somehow weaker than the left.

There are many ways to make Protestantism Protestant again.

Replace “praise bands” with choirs. Replace guitars and drums with hymns and organs. Replace Hillsong with Bach. Replace new church plants with old historic mainline churches. Replace blue lights and smoke machines with blue stained glass and tall steeples. Replace nondenominational churches with institutional denominations. Replace “altar call” with the ordinary means of grace (word and sacrament). Replace celebrity pastors with the confessions of faith and catechisms.

Mainline Protestantism is America’s religion. It’s the religion of the majority of U.S. presidents. It’s the religion that inspired the Founding Fathers, and chances are, it’s the religion of many of your ancestors.

Go back to Grandma’s old mainline church. These churches are bleeding members, so it will be easier than ever to revive them.

Luckily there is a small, yet rapidly growing movement of young people aimed at doing this exact thing. It's called Operation Reconquista. It advocates for conservative Christians to return to the mainline Protestant denominations that liberals have hijacked for the purpose of retaking them.

Every offshoot from mainline Protestantism has abandoned tradition. This is the only way to recover traditional Protestantism.