I Am an Evangelical... I Think

This past week, I eagerly posted a reply to a blog which asked the readers to answer the question: "Are you an Evangelical?" My response was briefly on-line at the website before being taken down. I am not sure why. Apparently, I said something impolitic. I will let you be the judge... feel free to comment!
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I am an Evangelical… I think.

If the word is used is in a grammatically correct manner, as someone who is a believer of the Gospel or message of Jesus, then I am definitely an Evangelical. If the word is used in a historically correct fashion, as Luther’s “evangelishe Kirche,” then I am an Evangelical. If the word is used to describe a long Christian tradition beginning with the end of the Middle Ages – and continuing through the Great Awakenings and student movements of the 19th Century and later – then I am fervently an Evangelical.

However, if the word is used in the context of the contemporary U.S. and British press where it primarily describes a political reactionary, then I must, sadly, be something else. However, if this is the case, I am at a loss for words or terms to describe exactly who I am - well, other than “white, bald and older every day.”

Since reluctantly becoming a Christian in 1971, I believed I was an Evangelical because I trusted in the message of Jesus Christ. In fact, it was that message that turned my life around after losing my moral compass in the ‘60’s. It was also the inspiration which encouraged me to leave my nascent career and birth country to live in foreign (at least to me) lands. Today, it is that message which encourages me to reflect both the character and the priorities of Jesus as I mentor younger men and care for missionaries in several countries.

It is unfortunate – only because it is no longer trendy – that I read all the wrong history early in my faith walk. I absorbed the biographies of reformers like Luther, Melanchthon, and Zwingli. As a result, I can still a get a catch in my throat when I read about the former at the Diet of Worms. His “conscience was captive to the Word of God” and, most days, so is mine.

I also read about faith workers and missionaries like William Carey, Adoniram Judson, David Livingstone, and Hudson Taylor. George Mueller’s outreach to children stimulated my imagination. The Student Volunteer Movement seemed brave and heroic to me rather than parochial or expansionistic. I even enjoyed the fact that Arthur Guinness (yes, THAT Guinness) was a supporter of the Evangelical movement – an Irish brewer starting Sunday school classes and encouraging missionaries tickles my imagination.

I must be an Evangelical if it means the following:

I believe that Jesus Christ was and is completely man and God. Many people who call themselves Christians seem to say that Jesus was only different from others in having attained a higher level or degree of self-actualized humanity. From my perspective, they communicate that Jesus represented God but wasn’t really God. I believe in a Christology where the pre-existent Word became human while remaining God in every sense of the word.

I believe in a world and universe that is still open to God’s work. I believe in a space-time continuum where Jesus was literally born in a back-water Roman province sometime between 6 and 4 BC. He lived a perfect life for approximately 33 ½ years. He was crucified after suffering both illegitimate persecution and an unjust trial. He literally rose bodily from the grave and – whether it is buried under one of the ugliest church buildings in all of human history or is found in what is called “Gordon’s Tomb” – that grave is still empty today. I believe that same God is at work in all of creation.

I believe the Bible is the Word of God. The authors were God-inspired men who gave us a God-breathed message which is remarkably uniform considering the cultures, historic settings and, even, continents represented in its narrative. This revelation has been a remarkable source of strength when I have faced some of the curve balls life has thrown at me. It seems to me that it should be the foundation of anything that would call itself Christian or Evangelical.

I believe the evangelion is a God-given message found in the Bible which provides salvation – and not just the realization of full human potential – to knuckle-heads like me. This message does promote social transformation, but it is much, much more. It is the means by which sinners and saints can experience reconciliation and real justification with Holy God.

I believe that we are still called to share actual content and make real, declarative statements. As Taylor Mali wrote in his poem, “Totally like whatever, you know?” from What Learning Leaves:

“To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.”

So, considering what I have written, I would have to say I am an Evangelical – no matter how some people try to re-define the term. I believe in the hope of Jesus and that this message is still at work in the far corners of creation - including the dark corners of my own heart.