Machen and Evangelistic Identity
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Much of what is said above formed the backbone of the new OPC’s early sense of identity. Machen said that, “If the church has failed, it is at least perfectly clear why she has failed. She has failed because men have been unwilling to receive and the church has been unwilling to preach the gospel of Christ crucified.”4 He believed that the church did not exist to preserve and protect the truth but to proclaim and promote it. The church was not called to simply open the doors and quietly wait for people to walk in and get saved; rather, the church was compelled by the grace of God to go out with the gospel to proclaim a passionate message of grace. While preaching before the OPC’s Second General Assembly in 1936, Machen said, “With what lively hope does our gaze turn now to the future! At last true evangelism can go forward without the shackles of compromising associations. The fields are white for the harvest. The evangelists are ready to be sent. Who will give the funds needed to send them out with their message of peace?”
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