evangelical vs Evangelical
July 1, 2004
“We need some good Evangelical Christians at Princeton.” / “Is she an Evangelical Christian?” / “Yes, but is he Evangelical?”
Frankly, I’m sick of the word Evangelical. I want to run the opposite direction whenever I hear it. If I hear about one more “Evangelical” PC(USA) congregation…it’s all just the same labeling/in-out/us-them language. I know I’m not the first one to say this (I think I read this before on someone’s blog…), but I think we need to re-claim the word “evangelical.” As I searched on Google, I came up with this article on Beliefnet from Fuller President Richard Muow: “Reclaiming Evangelicalism.” I’m not sure I want to reclaim Evangelicalism, but I want to reclaim evangelical. Is there a difference?
At the FTE conference, our discussion group discussed this briefly. I think the conclusion we came to was that (Becca, you had good thoughts on this), at least in American Christianity, you have “big E” Evangelicals and “little e” evangelicals. We agreed that we’d all like to be (and, as Christians who care about the gospel) evangelicals…and that, for the most part, Evangelicals often irritate us.
Anyone else care to take a stab at what the difference is?
Of course, this doesn’t help when you’re talking to someone and they ask, “Well, are they Evangelical?” Most of the times I’ve run into this in the past few weeks, I am almost positive the person means a “big E” Evangelical - and I could reply that “Yes, the person is evangelical - but not Evangelical” - but that’s a little hard to get across when you’re simply talking with someone.
So, what do we do? I want to be known as a follower of Christ who does care about the gospel, who does care about preaching good news to the poor, proclaiming freedom for the prisoners, recovering the sight for the blind, to release the oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. And perhaps, that is what an evangelical Christian cares about. And perhaps that is also what an Evangelical Christian cares about…but there is too much bad press/publicity about Evangelicals, that if one more person asks me if someone is an Evangelical (or if I am), I’m just gonna say, “Nope.”
Tags: Evangelical, Evangelicalism, Fuller-Seminary, Richard-Muow
Posted in Theology
Adam Walker Cleaveland: 
July 2nd, 2004 at 6:20 am
this post has got me stirring the pot and i started to comment here, but it’s gotten so long that i decided to blog about it myself.
thanks for the challenge!
July 2nd, 2004 at 8:22 am
There is an account, in one of the apocryphal apocalypses, of a council that was convened in Jerusalem to consider the name by which followers of Jesus would be known. Since the first label that had been applied to the group, “Christian,” was initially used as a slur (viz., one who has been smeared), there were many who preferred finding an alternative label. Some thought “Jews” would do. Others wanted something trendier, like “The Community,” but that identifier had been taken by the odd Qumran lot. Still others thought “Way” benefited from a sense of continuity (with, say, the first Psalm) and discontinuity (Jesus’ new creation), but consensus fragmented over whether a definite or indefinite article should be conjoined with the term. Lacking a better solution, the council accepted the label “Christian”: it was already a name by which they were known, and they were certain that its meaning would be transformed by the lives of those who truly sought to imitate Christ.
July 2nd, 2004 at 10:55 am
Perhaps while we’re at it, we could also reclaim the term “Christian.” Though it may be too far removed from its meaning to redeem, especially for those outside Church Inc.’s walls.
July 2nd, 2004 at 11:21 am
Perhaps we need to ask that person what they mean by evangelical. Maybe that will help them to process the problem with that question.
I personally like to think of myself as post-evangelical, a la Dave Tomlinson’s book. That label makes sense to me, but I suppose it might be hard to explain to people.
As far as reclaiming the word, I think maybe it has simply passed its expiration date.
July 2nd, 2004 at 1:01 pm
Of late, the big ‘e’ evangelical has tended to have more political tones to my ears. It seems to have moved beyond merely being a shared set of ideas about the Bible and into a sociopolitical movement, with set ideas on who to vote for, what causes to support, who to give money to, etc, etc. In that sense, I think you are correct that is has very much become an us vs them kind of word with political disagreement bordering on heresy.
July 2nd, 2004 at 1:09 pm
let’s forget this big “E” little “e” stuff, and go after reclaiming the “kingdom of God” Can’t remember the last time I heard that among any kind of “e” or “c”
July 2nd, 2004 at 2:27 pm
i’m struggling with my identity as some kind of reaction to the capital “E”. i’ve felt that the extreme extroversion of a legitimate faith to more than a (local/relative) community can never create the sincere results that is meant to come from relationships and their witnesses to God.
it seems to me that this is the same dilemma with missions. that is, we do need to respond to faith by an outward action, but at what rate, and with what means of efficiency? if we want efficiency, well than TBN and Gibson’s The Passion are the way.
but for obvious reasons it is to this “efficiency” that people criticize the Christ movement, and its over-extroverted emphasis on numbers as a measure of salvation and spiritual success.
i put much hope in wendell berry’s recognition of God using doubt as a means to speak to his broken and confused children, namely myself.
eli west
July 2nd, 2004 at 2:35 pm
sorry for 3 times the rambling… my browser was acting strangely. WBWJU.. which browser would Jesus use?
July 2nd, 2004 at 4:47 pm
Good distinction. God help us if we spent even a second worrying about reclaiming movements. Now, reclaiming the term “evangelical” - that I would spend time on. The ironic thing is that one of the places we need to reclaim it from is evangelicalism.
We need people who are desperately in love with the story of God and believe in its power to transform every corner of the globe through the work of our hands and mouths (in that order). If we can equate the term “evangelical” with that once again, then we have done a good thing.
July 4th, 2004 at 2:47 am
Hi cleave - tried to comment but couldn’t - so blogged a reply on my site instead.
July 4th, 2004 at 10:10 am
Thanks Maggi. To read her thoughts, click here…
July 4th, 2004 at 8:29 pm
In order to reclaim anything, you have to first prove that it belongs to you.
July 5th, 2004 at 3:13 pm
I had an interesting encounter with the big e two sundays ago at church. The bulletin read:
“if you are a member of an Evangelical church in good standing you are welcome to participate in communion.”
The friend I brought- (not a member of an Evangelical church in good standing) actually pointed this out to it out to me.
Why the need for distinction– this doesn’t mean ANYTHING to someone who is coming to a church for the first time. Actually barring a participant from communion that presumably has a relationship with Christ– based on membership in an Evangelical church‚Ķ..?
July 6th, 2004 at 1:30 pm
I would appreciate hearing more from people on the subject of communion. I know this is kind of changing the subject, but what keeps us from allowing people to participate? Are we really supposed to be communion cops? If anyone decides to write a post on this subject, shoot me an e-mail so I can read your thoughts.
July 14th, 2004 at 3:16 pm
you know what i think is funny. Churches in asia, eastern europe, and other persecuting countries don’t really worry about terms like evangelical. i wonder why that is? it’s kinda sad that in our american luxury we fight and argue and bicker over the stupidest things, and i do mean stupidest things. if we took the time and energy and money devoted over arguing the benefits of postmodernity vs modernity, conservative vs. liberal, litte e vs big E, where would Jesus’ bride be today? the churches in china look at us and shake their heads. Laos wonders if we know what its like to sacrifice for our Lord. America needs a wake up call and i don’t mean revival. wouldn’t it be amazing if the american church as a whole was actually living for Christ to the point where we don’t have time to dwell and get sucked in on these petty, useless, and futile arguements? i find an interesting phenomenon in persecuting countries. the church grows exponentially and thrives on persecution. why? maybe it has to do with christians actually having to stand up for their faith knowing full well they could die or be imprisoned. when people see that type of conviction the gospel spreads like wildfire, and guess what, it’s accepted too. there are over 1200 chinese becoming christians every hour. Praise God! Let’s live for Christ in such a way! How amazing would that be?!
July 24th, 2004 at 2:49 pm
i came across your web page when i was checking through the massages that i hard from friends up the. Actually i was call by god into His ministry i am at the age of 26 doing the work of God and a part time student, the very thing that buffle my mind a little is i thus it mean that as i belong to assemblies of God church i can be part of your evangelical group.
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I think the principle difference between Big E and Little e is that Big “E” tends to want to impose their morality, values, and religion on others through exerting the power to rule OVER other, flexing political muscles or spreading fear through smearing their opponents….little ‘e’ tends to be more concerned with using their power to SERVE people, instead of trying to rule people or coerce people into atleastr behaving like “christians.”
Tony Campolo has written extensively on the degradation the term evangelical has endured. There is a movement that has started calling themselves “Red Letter Christians” to emphasize their dedication to reaching people for Christ through caring for the least, the lost, and the last of this world….and through transforming others through sacrificial love, not might and force. And I say, AMEN TO THAT!