Mosaic editor Rod Benson asked Gordon Moyes about the prospects for evangelicals within liberal mainstream denominations. Here's what he had to say.

In the Uniting Church of Australia there is spiritual warfare (see Ephesians 6). The battle is with spiritual and dark forces in high places. It is a battle primarily for the Bible's place in the life of a believer and it's authority within the church. Although the issue has been fought over whether clergy living in homosexual relationships outside marriage could be ordained as clergy within the Uniting Church, the bigger issue is what role has the Bible in the Uniting Church today and what is its authority. It is a battle the Evangelicals with their high view of scripture must win - but it is a battle that they will win. You might well ask why will they win? Here are ten reasons why the Evangelicals will win:

1. The Bible is never outdated. There are people who always want to talk about their interpretation of the Bible and who are willing to treat the Bible as a book of interesting characters and information with as much authority and inspiration as a telephone directory. But evangelicals know something that has been forgotten: "you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God. For 'all men are like grass and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall but the Word of the Lord stands forever.' And this was the word that was preached to you" (1 Peter 1:23-25). Dean Paul Zahl of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, recognizes that the recent election of the Episcopal church's first openly homosexual bishop has profound theological implications. He says the action "demolishes the Good News of salvation..It demolishes salvation because it asserts that what Scripture calls sin is not sin. When there is no sin, there is no judgment. Without judgment, there can be no repentance. Without repentance, there is no forgiveness. "The decision fashions a God who is oblivious to sin. It thus denies the redemption of the world to a whole category of persons."

2. Evangelicals are better equipped for spiritual warfare. They may be naïve politically and have been out-manoeuvred by the tactical nous of the church's multitudinous regulations that are constantly used against them. The battle essentially is a spiritual one and that is where the evangelicals are better equipped because they possess the whole armour of God. They know how to use the sword which is the word of God both in attack and defence. Although reluctant to get into the nitty gritty of spiritual warfare, the evangelicals have realised that they are equipped for such spiritual warfare.

3. The Evangelical giant has been aroused. The decision made by the 2003 Assembly of the Uniting Church in Melbourne to approve the ordination of practising homosexuals has shocked the grass roots membership of the church. Thousands of ordinary members have now joined at crowded protest rallies held all across Australia. Evangelicals had to lose the vote at the Assembly in order to awake the slumbering giant within the pews of the churches. It is the same in the United States where the evangelical and conservative membership has turned the tide, which for twenty-five years has been successful in winning every liberal change brought about in the main line churches. 4. Old-fashioned liberalism in Australia is already a spent force. There is a lack of leadership within the Uniting Church in Australia. We are all mates together and every now and then we get someone whom we elect as first mate. The Uniting Church is like a cruise ship that keeps going round and round in circles. The small gay lobby ingratiated themselves into the church's bureaucracy. Even the President admitted that he was "greatly surprised" with the reaction of the grass roots membership. People who worked in the paid bureaucracy of the church are often greatly surprised by the grass roots majority. It is the sign of just how out of touch they are in spite of holding high office.

5. Parachurch ministries support evangelicals. They have taken the interest, the time and the money of evangelicals but now they are helping their evangelical colleagues by encouraging those within the Uniting Church to stay there and fight for their rights as Christians whose time, interest and prayer has made the Uniting Church what it is today.

6. Evangelicals are younger, richer and more energetic. If you look at the old time liberal clergy in the Uniting Church you will discover that most of them were trained in the 1950s and 60s. None of them can stand up and point to any significant growth in any congregation which they have led as old time liberals. The average age within the Uniting Church is over 66 years and the clergy suit an aging and dying membership. But among the evangelicals, and charismatic Christians within the Uniting Church it is the young adults who are making the pace. All of the growing churches in Australia are evangelical. The largest congregations are evangelical. While the average age of all the people that attend Uniting Churches is 66, the average age of the thousands of people who attend services at Wesley Mission Sydney is 31 years. The evangelicals across Australia are younger with more disposable income and are willing to put their money where their mouths are. They do not want their church hijacked by minority lobby groups.

7. There is a new ecumenical coalition coming into being. There is a commonality of doctrine and viewpoint on many of the great issues facing the church today found among Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Orthodox, Protestant and Pentecostal Christians. They have great concerns for the issues of quality of life, of faithfulness in marriage and celibacy in singleness in being opposed to liberal, abortionist, and euthanasia advocates. Those Christians across all the denominations are networking and they stand united and strong against the advance of homosexual clergy.

8. You cannot fool all of the people all of the time. The history of fifteen years of dialogue and discussion over the homosexual issues within the church reveals a litany of church cover-ups, lies and secret meetings. But the grass root membership of the Uniting Church has woken up. They are aware of immorality in high places, of lesbian sex, heterosexual adultery, homosexual partnering among church leaders and they have had enough of it. They are no longer fooled by church bureaucratic cover-up and secret meetings. To our shame, clergy, living immorally, have even been recommended to more significant positions. Evangelicals have now drawn the line in the sand.

9. The fear tactic is losing its power. For many years ministers have been fearful about future placements, about their housing and superannuation but there is now a new sense of freedom. Ministers are standing up in public protest meetings saying "For years I have been fearful of my job because I know that if I speak out on these issues the church bureaucracy will fail to appoint me to any new church. I was fearful of my career. But not anymore. I realise I cannot be silent but I must speak out for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints." In the same way churches were fearful of standing up against the trends of bureaucrats, however they are no longer frightened of the threatening talk that they would lose their property and that the church bureaucracy holds the titles. Many congregations have walked away from there properties and those who haven't are determined to stay in and fight for their rights as people who have both paid for and prayed for their church facilities. Evangelicals are no longer afraid of taking legal action to preserve their rights. Legal opinion at the highest level is being engaged. Class action suits are possible.

10. Evangelicals are learning to play the liberal game. For a long time the liberals counted on the evangelicals remaining silent or leaving the Church in disgust. Evangelicals are not known for their political cunning or their willingness to engage in long debate and bitter dispute. Now they are no longer leaving and remaining silent. They are prepared to speak up and fight for the truth. But they do so clad in the whole armour of God, "each piece put on with prayer." That prayer power cannot be underestimated. The battle will be fought in all of the mainline denominations. In the United States and in the United Kingdom the great mainline churches which have been losing membership and significance in society for decades have found revival and renewal through the younger more committed evangelicals. The same will happen in Australia. That is why the evangelicals will win.

Rev Dr Gordon Moyes AC is an upper house member of the NSW Parliament and superintendent of the Wesley Mission. This article appeared in Mosaic 5 (3), 2003, edited by Rod Benson. To subscribe, contact