A former evangelical stronghold is really losing it:
Just over a decade ago Peter Greer and Chris Horst penned a much-discussed volume, Mission Drift (Bethany House, 2014). It assessed and carefully documented how so many faith-based ministries and churches have drifted from their original calling.
Simply think of the YMCA. It is a nice social group nowadays. But recall, if you can, what it originally stood for when founded in London in 1844. It was the Young Men’s Christian Association. Today of course there is nothing Christian about it.
The authors say at the outset what they are concerned about: “Without careful attention, faith-based organizations will inevitably drift from their founding mission. It’s that simple. It will happen. Slowly, silently, and with little fanfare, organizations routinely drift from their purpose, and many never return to their original intent. It has happened repeatedly throughout history and it was happening to us.”
And they note how often something like money and finance have a key role to play in mission drift. One recent example of this is Christianity Today, the once great conservative, evangelical magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. I have noted its leftward drift over recent years. As just one example, I wrote this in 2019:
Others have also shared their misgivings about this. Many have wondered about the leftward direction of Christianity Today over the years. This just seems to be another clear indication of such a move. But anything that makes it easier for one of the present bunch of Democrats to get into office is certainly not something any conservative can approve of, nor something any concerned biblical Christian can run with as well. https://billmuehlenberg.com/2019/12/21/trump-and-christianity-today/
Someone who has been watching very closely the missional drift of CT and so many other once vital Christian ministries, denominations and parachurch groups is Megan Basham. I ended up writing three articles on her very important 2024 book, Shepherds for Sale:
In all three of those pieces, I discussed CT among other evangelical churches and groups. And just two days ago Basham has chronicled more such regrettable decline (apostasy) in the ranks of CT. She titles her alarming expose, “Evangelical Magazine Christianity Today Takes Over $1 Million From Abortion Funder”.
Her piece comes as a result of financial records being unearthed after Christian publisher Canon Press had offered to buy the magazine. She writes:
Since 2022, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has become a major patron of Christianity Today, donating well over $1,000,000 to the outlet, records show. Included in the contributions is $400,000 for general operating support, $75,000 to develop a mobile app, and $600,000 to cover U.S. elections. This makes Hewlett one of the magazine’s top disclosed donors, even though the NGO’s extensive abortion backing makes it a strange bedfellow for a Christian publication.
As dark money watchdog groups like Influence Watch have noted, since its founding in 1967, Hewlett has continuously supported Planned Parenthood, eventually becoming its second largest private funder in the United States. Between 2000 and 2023, Hewlett granted Planned Parenthood over $100 million. After the 2022 Dobbs decision ended the constitutional right to abortion, Hewlett announced it was redoubling its efforts to ensure access in states that were moving to restrict the procedure, revealing that its board had approved a 30% increase in its annual budget earmarked for “reproductive equity work.” In particular, this funding would “strengthen support for state and local organizations focused primarily on abortion care.”
She continues:
In the past five years, Christianity Today has increasingly relied on donations rather than subscriptions for income, IRS filings show. In 2020, only about 20% of revenues came from grants and donations. Today, it’s more than half. The Lilly Endowment, founded by the Eli Lilly family of pharmaceutical fame, is another major backer, granting the magazine $8 million since 2016 for initiatives ranging from a “national storytelling grant” to developing tools for preachers.
Hayden Ludwig, Executive Director of Research at Restoration America, has spent more than a decade researching dark money networks. He says major grants like Hewlett’s “act like a siren song – they can hook a grantee on Hewlett money and gradually reorient them around a ‘progressive’ agenda to keep the spigot open.”
“It’s absolutely troubling that Christianity Today would go hunting for grants from an undeniably leftist mega-funder with an anti-Christian axe to grind,” Ludwig told The Daily Wire. “But I can’t say I’m surprised, unfortunately, because bankrolling ‘conservative’ groups is the Hewlett Foundation’s m.o. as part of a larger strategy to infiltrate and undermine the Right. It’s sad to see a giant of Evangelical thought transform into just another pawn for the secular Left.” https://www.dailywire.com/news/evangelical-magazine-christianity-today-takes-over-1-million-from-abortion-funder
As so often is the case, he who pays the piper calls the tune. Those financing a group in good measure will end up calling the shots. No wonder CT has been so weak on so many core biblical beliefs, be it on abortion, homosexuality or the trans cult.
Referring to another report about how Canon Press is “a company tied to Christian nationalist pastor Douglas Wilson,” Robert A. J. Gagnon responded with these words:
You mean the magazine whose leadership supported federalizing “gay marriage”? The magazine that promoted the election of Harris/Walz, the presidential team consisting of the most radical and brazen promoters of unrestricted abortion and LGBTQ immorality (including drag queens, chemical castration of minors, males in female sports and private places, compulsory trans indoctrination of children in schools, compelled trans speech in the workplace and schools, and usurpation of parental rights over LGBTQ-identified children) in presidential elections history? Oh, that “Christianity Today.” But the real enemy is that “nationalist pastor Doug Wilson,” right?
We can be thankful for Basham and others for keeping the pressure on these various groups. Mission drift is certainly alive and well, and some of you might need to reconsider which “evangelical” magazines you subscribe to.
Oh, and please keep Basham in your prayers as she has been struggling with cancer of late.
