Prometheus 6

In an effort to evangelize among the nation's elite, evangelicals have launched hundreds of invitation-only programs and organizations. Business leaders in Manhattan conduct Bible studies that meet in private clubs. Fellowship groups in Washington are reserved for diplomats and members of Congress. The CEO Forum, an invitation-only group for CEOs of large corporations, has been extremely important to the religious formation of many business executives. And, ironically, meetings designed to spur Christian philanthropy are held at fancy hotels and resorts. Indeed, the evangelical advance into the nation's higher circles has entailed an extension of, instead of a departure from, the privileged and powerful worlds these leaders regularly inhabit. Yet how does an exclusive religious fellowship square with Christian teaching?

A gated community in the evangelical world
Many of the nation’s most powerful believers — presidents, CEOs, entertainers and athletes — won’t be found in the pews on Sundays, thus creating a growing gap between them and ‘the people.’ It’s a trend that is having a profound effect on this faith movement.
By D. Michael Lindsay

President Bush is Public Evangelical No. 1. His presidency is the capstone of evangelicals' 30-year rise from the margins of society to the halls of power. But while the president has gone to great lengths to testify publicly to his faith, he often doesn't do the one thing that defines most evangelicals — go to church. He attends chapel at Camp David and other special services, but the president rarely can be found in a congregation on Sunday morning. (In contrast, Presidents Carter and Clinton both attended services in Washington during their tenures.)

Surprised? When most of us think of devout evangelicals, we think of people who attend church regularly and are active in their local congregations. Yet many of the most prominent evangelicals do neither. They regularly attend Bible studies and religious gatherings, including last week's National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, but many can't be found in the pews on Sunday.

I spent the past five years interviewing some of the country's top leaders — two U.S. presidents (George H.W. Bush and Carter), 100 CEOs and senior business executives, Hollywood icons, celebrated artists and world-class athletes. All were chosen because of their widely known faith. Yet I was shocked to find that more than half — 60% — had low levels of commitment to their denominations and congregations. Some were members in name only; others had actively disengaged from church life.

David Kuo, an outspoken Christian in politics who served as a senior White House official from 2001 to 2003, has called St. Louis Family Church his "home church" for years, despite the fact that he does not currently live in Missouri, nor has he ever. "It's an extraordinary church where the presence of God is simply palpable," says Kuo. He, as well as country music star Randy Travis, NFL quarterback Kurt Warner and several other leading evangelicals fly to St. Louis four to six times a year to set aside time for prayer and to hear Pastor Jeff Perry preach.

"He's taught me how to live the life ... of being faithful while in the limelight," Warner says.

The way that leaders have loosened their ties to churches in their own communities — in the places where they live and work — is deeply troubling. It signals the loss of one of the few social settings where average "Joes" used to rub elbows with the powerful, and where the powerful kept in touch with the concerns of average folks. Organized religion has always been stratified in this country. The Episcopalians were richer than the Methodists, and the Presbyterians looked down on the Baptists. For a long time, however, it was possible for the bank president and the bank teller to know each other personally through church. Today, that happens far less often.