My advice to those who find themselves on the pendulum swing from broad evangelicalism as well as to those moving toward Anglo-Catholicism: Find a church that is faithful to expositional, Christ-centered preaching of Scripture, regular Lord’s Day observation of the means of grace (i.e. word, sacraments, prayer), the practice of church discipline and the loving fellowship of the saints. Exchange the quest for both spiritual and liturgical retreatism for biblical, Gospel-driven experimentalism and worship. Value historic liturgical practices, but never do so at the expense of biblical revelation.

I was baptized in the Reformed Episcopal church, spent time in Reformed Presbyterian Churches (mainly PCA and OPC) as a boy, was extremely rebellious and dechurched for over a decade, came to Christ in repentance and faith in my 20’s and now pastor a moderately liturgical Reformed Presbyterian (PCA) church. I am Reformed because of biblical convictions about soteriology and committed to Presbyterianism out of biblical convictions about ecclesiology. My own experience has fueled my interest as I have seen others make dramatic shifts in their ecclesiastical affiliation over the years. The tensions that have recently arisen on account of the debate surrounding the use of the Liturgical Calendar have me once again revisiting this subject. Why do so many, who were brought up in broad evangelicalism move to Anglicanism, Episcopalianism, Anglo-Catholicism, Roman Catholicism and other High Church Liturgical fellowships? While I certainly do not believe that I have all the answers, I do believe that there are numerous reasons that help explain the swing from one end of the ecclesiastical spectrum to the other.

In 1985, Robert Webber sought to answer this question from his own experience in his massively influential work Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail. Webber, who grew up the son of a Baptist minister and who became a graduate of Bob Jones University and the Reformed Episcopal Seminary, swung from broad evangelicalism into Reformed Presbyterianism and finally into Episcopalianism. The pendulum swung as far as possible (without taking him to Rome!)–from one end of the ecclesiastical spectrum to the other. Webber’s end goal in writing Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail was to aid those bogged down with the same disenfranchisement he had experienced in evangelicalism. Webber was massively successful at doing so during his tenure at Wheaton.

The first explanation that Webber gives for his transition seems to have to do with a reaction to what I call “retreatism.” Retreatism is the product of revivalism baptized in the communalism of the 1960s. It is the evangelical short term trip to L’Abri. If you grew up in an evangelical–or even mainline–church in the ’80s, ’90s or 2000s you have, no doubt, experienced retreatism. Spiritual leaders full of charisma inject a spiritual steroid into the minds of God’s people over a weekend away. This shot, of course, wears off and spiritual life again becomes mundane. Spiritual dryness kicks in once the panacea of retreatism wears off. As one of my best friends likes to say, “After the campfire goes out, you lose your camp fling, you lose your camp high and you lose your camp salvation.”

High Church ecclesiology and liturgical practices present themselves as being the sure-fire remedies to retreatism. In High Church ecclesiology, ritual replaces retreat and sacramentalism replace spiritual steroid shots. For those tired of the “never enough” evangelical hamster wheel, it seems like the perfect corrective. However, in making a full swing to High Church liturgy, experiential Calvinism is almost always lost.

This loss of experiential Calvinism has nothing to do with retreatism. Rather, many move from broad evangelicalism into Reformed churches for a time because they believe that they have found a more robust historical leg on which to stand. After all, the Reformed Church holds the foremost place in Protestant, ecclesiastical history. Confessionally Reformed churches tend to satisfy those seeking historico-ecclesiastical objectivity…at least, for a time. One of the things that those who make the full ecclesiastical pendulum swing tend to have in common is that, at the end of the swing, they end up downplaying biblical and doctrinal objectivity in favor of ecumenicalism or traditional and sacramental objectivity. Interestingly, this was one key component of Webber’s own self-avowed transition. He wrote:

“One tragic aspect of the spirituality of right doctrine is that it tends to create a uniformity of interpretation that stifles growth…In the Anglican tradition I have found freedom of curiosity and openness. I regularly speak in Episcopalian churches where, during the discussion, a number of viewpoints will be expressed openly and forcefully. I’ve found a give and take on the local parish level that is healthy and dynamic.”

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