Why the Label?

During the past two months I have spoken to a rather diverse assortment of evangelical audiences: seminary and college students, marketplace folks, conservatives in mainline denominations, global Christian leaders, and megachurch staff members. I have been surprised by the fact that in each case in the Q&A time someone asked me about what I take the “evangelical” label to mean.

 Needless to say, I have been asked that question often before, but never with the frequency of my recent experiences. Nor have I seen in previous years other heads in the audience nodding at the very asking of the question. It is clear that people are asking it not simply out of curiosity. They want reassurance that the label still communicates something good about who they are, because they are worried about what the term might mean to others.

I share the concern. I spoke at Chautauqua two summers ago, and a Jewish woman came up to me after my presentation and thanked me for what I said. Then she added this: “I was surprised that I enjoyed a talk by someone who calls himself an evangelical—I always thought of evangelicals as bad people!”  When I asked her what she associated with that negative impression, she made it clear that she had been convinced that all evangelicals were associated with the Religious Right.

We do have a “branding” problem these days. But I am inclined to see the problem as also an opportunity. It is important, for one thing, to rescue the label by sticking to the basics. In this regard, I find the four Bebbington marks of evangelicalism to provide an excellent set of talking points: why we care about biblical authority; why we think it supremely important to invite people to know Jesus personally; why we place a strong emphasis on the redemptive work that was sealed at Calvary; and why we sense a commitment to an active and robust life of discipleship.

But it is also important to display a different spirit in the public arena.  In the evangelical world in which I was raised, we were constantly being encouraged to bear witness to our faith, and the text regularly pressed upon us in this regard was I Peter 3: 15: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” Seldom, though, was the next part of the verse mentioned: “But do this with gentleness and respect.”

Our “branding” problem requires—in good part at least—a spiritual remedy. We need to cultivate the capacity for a kinder and gentler evangelicalism. My clear sense is that this is what the folks asking me about what the “evangelical” label should mean were hoping for. That very fact is for me a sign of hope for the future of the cause of the Gospel!