Ligon Duncan Explains the Charge of Calvinists as Poor Evangelists

It has been said time and time again that Calvinists are poor evangelists. I just listened to a sermon this morning where a preacher said, "Well, if you believe that half the people are damned to hell, then why in the world would you go and evangelize?" The Caner brothers charged Calvinists believing in election as an excuse to be lazy, to not knock on doors, that it saps the evangelism of every church it infects, and so on. Ironically so, Mark Dever points out the following stats:

14.8% decline in the United Church of Christ

11.6% decline in the PCUSA

6.7% decline in the United Methodist Church

5.7% decline in the American Baptist Churches

5.3% decline in the Episcopal Church

5% growth in the Southern Baptist Convention

18.5% growth in the Assemblies of God

21.8% growth in the Christian and Missionary Alliance

40.2% growth in the Church of God

42.4% growth in the PCA

57.2% growth in the Evangelical Free Churches

* Statistics from the last 10 years in denominational life found in Dave Shiflett's book Exodus. The SBC saw 5% growth where the PCA saw 42% growth. Looks like those of us in the SBC can learn something from that disease-infested, lazy Westminster boys who sit around and see how "hyped" they can get. Even with all our megachurches, "million more" campaigns, decisional regeneration emphasis, and dishonest statistics one would think that the SBC could at least make it to 10%. But I guess that the Founder's fault right? That's what they want us to believe. It's those Calvinist's fault that over 10,000 churches didn't baptize one person (all of which we must presume have been eaten away by the doctrines of grace). Here's where Ligon Duncan responds. While Duncan gives a seven-point response in his post, I want to quote him on number three: "Calvinists are often considered poor evangelists because of historical ignorance. The standard fare of anti-Calvinism (Calvinism kills evangelism and missions) so often served up in the SBC and in wider evangelicalism is, of course, wrong. Dead wrong and demonstrably wrong. The greatest evangelists and missionaries of Protestant era have been Calvinistic or Reformed. That is, they have embraced and preached the doctrines of grace. Whether it is Bunyan or Spurgeon, Carey or Nettelton or Whitfield or Duff or Stott, that you are talking about – the Baptist tradition, the Congregational tradition, the Anglican tradition, the Presbyterian tradition and so on – find the hall of fame evangelists and missionaries and you’ll find folks who live, breathe, teach and preach the doctrines of grace." This reminds me of Steve Hays' recent post "Ahistorical Theology." In response to why he believes the PCA has seen such growth, Duncan replies, "the growth of the PCA (and other strong reformed churches like CHBC and CLC and GCC and BBC) is not because we are better evangelists but because we have a better evangel (that is, a more biblical one) and a gracious, sovereign God who is at work changing hearts by his Spirit." Not better evangelists but a better evangel . . . if only we could only embrace that reality.