The passing of Billy Graham marks the end not only of an era but of an epoch. Graham may have been the last of a line of standout, world-recognized Protestant leaders. It is a very long line, going back as far as Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Whitefield and Edwards, and then closer to our time, Spurgeon, Moody, Warfield, Schaeffer, Stott and many others I couldn’t begin to name. But they’re gone. Who will lead evangelical Christianity now?

20th-Century Spiritual Giants

Leadership within Protestantism has never been a matter of position but always of influence. And influence Graham had in abundance. Thus if you’d asked anyone in the late 20th century, “Who is most shaping evangelical Christianity at this time?” you could easily count on Grahams’ name coming up first in reply.

There were other “giants of the faith,” of course. I think of Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru, in the U.S.), who led a ministry that’s been involved, either directly or through partnerships, in planting millions of churches around the world. Or I think of Chuck Colson of Prison Fellowship Ministries and BreakPoint. Once infamous for his part in the Watergate scandal, he became later perhaps Christianity’s strongest spokesman for humanitarian care uniquely combined with solid biblical thinking.

Bright passed away in 2003, Colson in 2012. And now Billy Graham, the standout leader among standouts.

What Does Leadership Even Mean?

Who will lead us now? What does leadership even mean among Protestants? We’ve long been fractured into multiple denominations, but these have been growing less relevant over recent decades. Much more urgent now are all the heated disputes over the authority of God’s word, and God’s moral expectations; and on these issues, much of mainline Protestantism has stepped outside historic Christianity altogether — at least in the Western world.

Still the question remains: Who will lead evangelicalism?

No single name leaps to mind. Timothy Keller? I keep meeting evangelicals who have never heard of him. Tony Evans? Many believers look to him for leadership, but many others wouldn’t even recognize his name. John Piper? Same answer. Russell Moore? Same again. I could continue, but you get the point.

Worldwide Diversity

By now, though, you should have noticed that this has all been very British- and American-centered. That’s way too narrow a view. The typical Bible-believing Protestant is no longer a Baptist in Birmingham. Rather, he’s a Pentecostal living in a high-rise in Lagos or Guangdong. Or she’s a mother attending an independent church in rural Brazil or Uganda. Or he’s a converted former Muslim meeting secretly with a small house church in Morocco.

Time was once that evangelicalism’s center of gravity was easily located in the English-speaking world, first Britain, then America. Its leading institutions — especially its seminaries — were likewise easy to identify. Now there is no easily definable center of gravity. Instead it’s a highly distributed, worldwide movement of men, women and children united by a common belief in the resurrected Jesus as Savior and Lord.

Unity Beyond our Divisions

And where then is the leadership? It’s just as widely distributed. This is a mark of Protestant Christianity’s dynamism, and perhaps also of its potential for chaos and even error; for the great religious cults of the Western world (and beyond) have virtually all been offshoots of Protestantism. From that perspective — not to mention all the widely-discussed political issues bedeviling the movement — it’s astonishing that evangelicalism has held together at all.

Still there is unity in the faith that supersedes our divisions. Every few weeks or so I enjoy breakfast with an evangelical friend whose politics are considerably different than mine. I’ve had great fellowship with believers whose countries have been sworn enemies of America. I’ve prayed with Christians when neither of us understood each other’s language, yet we knew we were of one heart. For all our differences there’s still something holding us together anyway.

Leadership Through Character

And I believe the past generation’s leaders provide a clue to what that is. I had the privilege of working with both Bill Bright and Chuck Colson. Both were men of incredible giftedness but deep humility. Both were sold out to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Both were committed, right to the core of their beings, to the Word of God. Both were men of highest integrity. Both sought the Lord urgently in prayer. Both were students, not just of the Word but also of the world they’d been called to reach. Both knew they were on mission to reach as many as possible with the truth and the love of Jesus Christ.

I miss them both. Badly. From what I’ve read and heard, the same things were true of Billy Graham. We’re all going to miss him. But along with many, many others down through the ages, these men have left us a legacy. It’s in their character and their commitment, which anyone may follow, wherever we may be.

“Who Will Lead? Will I?”

So no, I can’t name one standout, “giant-of-the-faith” evangelical leader today, as I could have once. Yet I pray that in describing Bright, Colson and Graham as I have, I’ve also described your pastor. I pray that I’ve described you.

That’s why I say to my fellow evangelicals today, let’s pick up their mantles. Wherever God has placed us, in whatever spheres we circulate in, let’s lead as they did, with the same depth of commitment to God, to His Word, and to His mission here on Earth. Our influence won’t be as broad as theirs, but it could be just as deep.

Our most important question, after all, isn’t, “Who will lead?” It’s, “Will I?”