Are You an Evangelical?
I am often asked, “What does it mean to be an Evangelical?” The problem of defining evangelicalism is almost insurmountable. Whole books have been written about this. Attempted answers include “Anybody who believes in inerrancy” . . . “Protestants who hold to the fundamentals of the faith” . . . “Anybody who likes Billy Graham.” I once answered the question of Evangelical identity with the statement, “An Evangelical is a person who attends an Evangelical church, believes Evangelical doctrines, supports Evangelical organizations, and hangs out with other Evangelicals.”
As I was sitting in church one day, the pastor said something and I thought, “Now only an Evangelical would say that.” This brought the question into my mind again: what makes a person an Evangelical?
So, I jotted down a few telltale signs of Evangelical identity. It’s just a working list and I’m sure we could add dozens more.
1. At least half of all businesses you patronize have a fish symbol in the window.I could come up with more, but why don’t you help? What are some “litmus tests” of Evangelicalism that might help us work out a more satisfactory description?
2. Without hesitation you can complete the phrase, “And all God’s people said…”
3. You’ve attended or watched Billy Graham crusades even though you’ve been saved for decades.
4. You really believe FoxNews is fair and balanced.
5. You’ve done two of the four following activities: attended a stewardship seminar, attended a marriage conference, homeschooled your children, or boycotted a
business.
6. You know the meaning of at least three of the four following abbreviations: TBN, BJU, NIV, and SBC.
7. You actually understand numbers 1–6.
9 comments:
You have attended a church service with drums and a keyboard and liked it :-)
You know you're an evangelical when you use the word "secular."
You know you are an evangelical when, instead of talking about "culture," you talk about "the culture".
It is interesting that you have brought this subject up...even if it is in humour...it is something I have been dwelling on a lot in my current life situation (which I welcome discussing at some point). I recently had quite the discourse on this subject with an Anglican friend of mine, which was important for me to engage in.
My addition to your list:
1. You are Evangelical if you shake your head with disgust at the smell of incense and the sight of Andrei Rublev's 'Trinity'.
2. You are Evangelical if force a map at someone turning onto 'Ancient Way', 'Liturgy Road', or 'Tradition Blvd'.
You're an evangelical if you've supported a book-burning of Harry Potter.
You were forced to watch A Thief in the Night in your high school youth group. It gave me nightmares and it had lots of groovy 70's clothing and decor. ugh.
If you use the words "missional" or "glocal" in every conversation...or, if you've accused someone of having marital problems because they didn't see or didn't enjoy the movie Fireproof.
You know what the "1040 Window" is, listen to James Dobson, and will probably... should I say dare it...vote Republican.
If you have ever wore jeans to Sunday church.
If you have "tracks" in your entry-way top-drawer.
If you read "christian books" more often then the actual Bible.
If you have more than 2 of the left radio buttons pre-set to Christian stations.
If you think non-church Halloween Events are sponsored by Satan.
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