Faith Matters

You don't speak for me

New hope for progressive evangelical Christians

When I watch pundits on the news who are asked to comment on an issue from the perspective of Christian faith, I often find myself thinking, "They don't speak for me." For some reason, so many of the go-to Christian authorities just don't see the world like I do.

When they say a natural disaster is God's punishment, they don't speak for me.

When they defend unconscionable behavior for political expedience, they don't speak for me.

When they lack nuance and charity, they don't speak for me.

When they reject science, they don't speak for me.

When they dismiss groups of people on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation, they don't speak for me.

When they put personal rights above love and service of others, they don't speak for me.

When they talk like patriotism is a Christian virtue, they don't speak for me.

This happens with so much frequency that it can be frustrating and discouraging when someone is trotted out as the representative of Evangelical Christians, and I don't feel represented in the least. It makes me feel lonely and isolated. Maybe I'm the only one who has this experience, but I doubt it.

There is a misconception out there that Evangelical Christians speak with one voice, vote monolithically and all share a common approach to life, politics, and culture. The reality that rarely gets represented on the news is that Evangelicalism is actually much broader and diverse than people might expect.

I know this to be true because I am part of a growing minority within American Evangelicalism.

Last week, I went to Indianapolis to attend the national gathering of the Open Network. Open is a relatively young organization that is seeking to connect progressive evangelical churches and Christians throughout the United States. Open has recognized there is an emerging progressive and accepting stream within Evangelicalism. It is underrepresented in the media, but its voice is growing.

What we experienced at the Open gathering last week was a couple hundred church leaders from across the country discussing and dreaming together about how to create a more just and generous world. From what I heard, there weren't a lot of mean-spirited condemnations. There weren't a lot of doom-and-gloom speeches about the apocalyptic ramifications of things not going our way. There weren't a lot of people wringing their hands over perceived threats like secular humanism or a liberal worldview.

There was honest engagement of tough issues. We talked about things like racism, sexism, Islamophobia and homophobia. We discussed mental health issues in the church. We listened to our LGBTQ brothers and sisters share their stories about being both marginalized and included in the life of the church. We wrestled with the reality that the gender pay gap extends to churches even churches where women are full participants in leadership.

The churches and Christians represented at the Open event are committed to doing what they can to change things for the better. For many of us, that starts by building churches deeply rooted in the gospel that are safe and welcoming to all people. It also means engaging our culture from the perspective of love not fear. It means finding new, constructive ways to address the biggest issues we face.

The experience at Open for me was profoundly hopeful. It felt like finding my tribe. Here was a group of people whose stories and backgrounds are not terribly dissimilar from mine: Many, if not most, grew up in a conservative, traditional churches, underwent some kind of theological, political and personal transformation, and are now working to build a different kind of church that expresses faith differently.

As I listened to various people at Open, I kept thinking, "They speak for me." What a relief.

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Robb Ryerse is the founding pastor of Vintage Fellowship in Fayetteville and the author of Fundamorphosis: How I Left Fundamentalism But Didn't Lose My Faith. You can reach him at [email protected].

NAN Religion on 10/15/2016

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