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the Wing Evangelical Enterprises was established in 1984
to defend and promote the historic Christian faith. Now, that's an
intriguing phrase: "the historic Christian faith." What exactly is
that? It refers to the original teachings of the Christian Church up to
about the time of Augustine. The “historic faith” also refers to the
restoration of those early church teachings during the Reformation.
This is the time of Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli in the early 1500's.
It's not that the period inbetween was without merit, or that the
period following had no redeeming qualities. It's a matter of
orthodoxy, a clear statement of the truths of Scripture.
Christianity has gradually become marginalized in the public
square, and for a number of reasons. But primarily it is because
the nature of man has stayed the same. Christian truth, as the
world sees it, has failed to effect any change in mankind. By
contrast, new technologies have succeeded in visibly transforming
the material world.
Therefore, in the battle for the mind, Christianity appears
irrelevant. It is unable to compete with Science and Technology for the
hearts and minds of a consumer society. If orthodoxy is truth, and
Christian truth has failed, then it is assumed that orthodoxy must
be passé. Indeed, orthodoxy in creed and confession is
now considered an outright impediment to church growth. And so it
has been largely abandoned by the evangelical community. I
don't believe Christianity has failed at all, or that Christian truth
is passé, or that orthodoxy is the problem. Quite the opposite.
When orthodoxy is abandoned, the church becomes marginalized
and ineffectual; its influence wanes; and the gospel is corrupted.
Without a genuine, offending gospel proclamation, the church is just
one voice among a cacophony of voices, peddling its wares and promoting
its lifestyle, earth-bound instead of heaven-bent.
This website is my contribution to the discussion of the role
of Christian orthodoxy in church and public debate. I hope you are
challenged by the information you find here.
William H. Gross
“I count myself one of the
number of those who
write as they learn and learn as they write.” - Augustine
Epistle 7
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