A Few Words about the “Social Gospel”

by Edward O. Bragwell, Sr.

We “conservatives” sometimes speak of the “Social Gospel” in a way that shows we know very little about it. Many think the Social Gospel is all about churches sponsoring social activities like social meals and recreational activities. While these unscriptural practices are wrong and may have in some way grown out of the social gospel movement, they are not at the core of it.

Historically the social gospel was a protestant movement that began in the later part of the nineteenth century and became a strong influence during the early years of the twentieth century. It was started by classic theological liberals (classic Modernists) who basically lost faith in the hereafter and tried to make preaching and the church still relevant by making them a means of improving the present world order (the here and now).

Its influence continues to shape the religious thinking, preaching, and church practice of many in this country. The shifted emphasis and focus of the gospel and churches from saving souls and preparing them for heaven to that of social reform and the betterment of society is seen everywhere. The role of Jesus as the Savior has been replaced with Jesus as a mere wise man whose teaching will make a better society. The theory involves the notion that the problem of sin is caused by the corruption and inequities of our social systems. The solution is to produce a better world order and the problem of sin will diminish. The emphasis in preaching is turned to social reform and away from personal conversion to Christ.

Emphasizing salvation from poverty and inequity, rather than salvation from sin and its temporal and eternal consequences is the present order. Another way of putting it is that the focus has shifted from pursuing heaven and avoiding hell, by overcoming personal sin through the gospel, to making a better life in the here and now. The reason little is preached about heaven and hell is either that they no longer believe in them or if they still do believe they think that virtually no one is in danger of hell and that everyone is going to heaven. The social gospel’s shift is often so subtle that it is hard for us to see. Sure, the gospel addresses a Christian’s behavior in this present world (Tit. 2:11, 12), but in the context of how these things affect his pursuit of the future world (v. 13).

Think of the themes and topics for “gospel meetings,” “seminars,”“specials” and even “Sunday sermons” that you see from churches. How many of them suggest that they will be addressing matters of spiritual and eternal import or will it be matters that are basically designed primarily to improve life in the here and now? Will there be lessons from the Bible designed to tell how to better prepare for heaven, or will they be more designed to take the Bible as a manual for their physical and social betterment? Even when the gospel does address Christians’ responsibilities in the home, the community, or the workplace, it is not that improvement in these areas is an end within itself, but as a part of living here in a way that prepares one to live in heaven in the hereafter.

I suspect that we all may have been influenced by the social gospel concept that we have realized and need to be careful to preach the gospel as the apostles preached it. Church-sponsored social activities may be a spin-off from the social gospel, but the social gospel manifests itself in far more ways than that.