In one of our one-on-one meetings, while we were talking about outreach for the vespers service, Soren looked at me and asked what I think of the word ‘evangelical’. My short laugh in response prompted him to raise his eyebrows at me, as if to say, “Okay, clearly this is something that we are going to talk about.”
Considering that I’m a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, I should probably feel more ownership of this term. But when I hear the word ‘evangelical’ in isolation, my mind immediately jumps to fundamentalist Christians who aggressively try to convert everyone around them to their own way of thinking so that those people don’t burn in hell. I think this association comes because it seems that the only time you ever hear about Christianity on the news, it’s in the context of ‘fundamentalist evangelical Christians’ who deny the validity of science or claim that homosexuals are living in sin. Alternatively, when Christians appear in TV shows or in movies, they are usually either crazy fanatics or mindless sheep. Above all, Christians seem to be primarily portrayed in the media as illogical and unreasonable. This is probably also why I usually identify as Lutheran instead of Christian when someone asks about my religion—I know that I am a follower of Christ so I should have no problem with calling myself a Christian, but in society today, that term is associated with something very different than what I believe.
There was a study conducted a few years ago among Americans between the ages of 16 and 29 where non-Christians were asked to characterize Christianity. According to the popular song, people should “know we are Christians by our love.” But, in this study, the top three perceptions of Christianity were that it is judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), and teaches the same basic ideas as other religions (82%). While the last one could be a positive thing depending on what the surveyed people think about other religions, it doesn’t counterbalance the harsh outlook of Christianity as judgmental and hypocritical—the very things about the religious elite in Jerusalem that Jesus couldn’t stand. The study also mentioned that these perceptions were typically based on specific negative interactions with Christians and in churches. One of the researchers said, “the descriptions that young people offered of Christianity were more thoughtful, nuanced, and experiential than expected.”
While I’m glad that the people in my generation make reasoned, thoughtful decisions based on their own experiences, it saddens me that this is what those experiences have convinced them that Christianity is. There are so many beautiful things about Christianity beneath the exterior we seem to show to the world—love, patience, value for life, fellowship and community, social justice, kindness, humility, generosity, and the list goes on and on. But it seems these things didn’t make it through to the rest of the world.
I think the reason why I shy away from terms like Evangelical and Christian is because they remind me of how misrepresented I feel as a religious person in society. When I look at those words on their own—‘evangelical’ meaning sharing the good news and ‘Christian’ meaning a follower of Christ, I should have no problem with labeling myself as an Evangelical Christian. But there’s still a hesitation. So clearly I have work to do. I don’t really have a solution other than living out my faith in such a way that I can create new perceptions of what it means to be Christian and Evangelical but it’s a place to start. And maybe I’ll be able to change my own perceptions along the way as well—or at least be able to answer Soren’s question without rolling my eyes and laughing.