Reclaiming Evangelical Identity

I am an evangelical. I am sure that my declaration will cause some cognitive dissonance in the minds of the readers of this essay, and in my own faith community. The cognitive dissonance might be rooted in the fact that I am African American, progressive (both politically and theologically), and a member of a historically Black church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church. I get it! The aspects of my personal political and theological leanings do not scream evangelical at face value. Often, when we talk about “evangelicals,” we speak of white, conservative, hyper-nationalist Christians. Nevertheless, I am an evangelical, and it my goal in this brief essay to explain why I would align myself with such a religious descriptor and why progressive Christians like me must reclaim “evangelical” Christianity.

What is an evangelical? There are many interpretations of the word and its practical application, but the most basic description I have found is from Obrey Hendricks’ book Christians Against Christianity: How Right-Wing Evangelicals Are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith, wherein he writes: “Evangelical comes from the Greek eugelion, meaning ‘good news’ or gospel.’ … What Evangelicals have in common is a belief in four basic tenets: (1) that the Bible is the ultimate authority for life … ; (2) that Jesus died to atone for the sins of the world; (3) that a conversion experience, or being “born again,” is necessary for heavenly salvation; and (4) that believers should engage in evangelistic outreach.”[1] My faith journey has been centered  on the aforementioned tenets with deep reverence and zeal. 

How do I reclaim my evangelical identity? By embracing the inclusive nature of God’s love. John 3:16 proclaims that God loved “the WORLD.”

My evangelical zeal was nurtured in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. I was baptized as a child (six years old), but also had a personal conversion experience and a personal trip down the aisle to profess my faith in Jesus before the congregation. I was “on fire” for Jesus. I read my Bible enthusiastically, shared my faith in Jesus Christ, and tried to live a pure and holy life. I served in my church’s youth group and even held higher office in our denominational youth organization. In essence, I tried to live into the tenets of evangelicalism, but the Black version of it. 

Fervor and Fidelity

The AME Church is one of the historic Black Methodist denominations based primarily in the United States. The 19^th-century origins of the AME Church are rooted in the civil and human rights struggle of Black people in the U.S. and around the world. In 1816, Bishop Richard Allen formally incorporated the AME Church to be a haven for all people seeking freedom in Christ as well as in the temporal world.

The AME Church grew rapidly, reaching its zenith in the 1950s. It was that evangelical fervor, exciting worship style, fidelity to the scriptures—as well as a strong historical sense that God cares deeply for all those who’ve suffered or been discounted across the centuries—that beckoned many, including my family, to join our local AME congregation. 

Ideological Infiltration

I remain AME because of the spiritual, emotional, and historical deposits the church has put into my faith journey throughout my life. Yet the AME Church has not been immune to the infiltration of modern social themes and preoccupations of white evangelicalism. I remember going on a youth group trip to South Carolina. On the bus the directors played movies from the “Left Behind” series. We had purity culture conversations to reinforce abstinence until marriage. Homosexuality or, as it was called back in the 1990s when I was growing up, “alternative lifestyles,” was a taboo subject even to talk about, let alone affirm openly. It was a sin to be homosexual. Prohibitions against gay marriage made it into the law of the church, the Doctrine and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, in the early 2000s. Behind the zeal of evangelism and focus on scripture stood markers of an exclusive religious expression that have been associated with white evangelicalism especially since the early 1980s, with the rise to prominence in American public life of the Moral Majority and the Rev. Jerry Falwell. By now, it is practically synonymous with a dominant American theo-politics, provoking Hendricks to write: “A travesty. That’s how I would characterize Christianity in America today. A travesty, a brutal sham, a trading charade, a cynical deceit.”[2]

How, then, do I reclaim my evangelical identity? First, by reclaiming biblical hermeneutics from fundamentalism. In 1922, Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, noted liberal pastor and theologian in New York City, preached a sermon entitled “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” In one of his moves, he admonished his Presbyterian congregation to have a more expansive interpretation and application of the Bible. He asserted, in essence, that a fundamentalist approach to scripture is too “mechanical” and “static” and out of step with many other Christians who regard the Bible “as the record of progressive unfolding of the character of God to His people” and who find the Book “more inspired and more inspiring than ever it was before …”[3] The Bible cannot be confined to rigid parameters in order to exclude groups that have long been marginalized. History proves how harmful such narrow and rigid interpretations of scripture have been to entire peoples. I do not need to carry this abuse of scripture into our collective future. 

Kindness is Not Sinful

How do I reclaim my evangelical identity? Second, by embracing the inclusive nature of God’s love. John 3:16 proclaims that God loved “the WORLD.” I put emphasis on the WORLD to underscore the reach of God’s love. The love of God includes everybody. Jesus goes on to say in Luke 10 that two commandments encompass the entirety of the tenets of our faith: love God and love neighbor. Our neighbor is the marginalized person: the person of color, the LGBTQIA+ person, the man, woman, child who does not have the privileges afforded to them by this capitalistic, militaristic, exclusive world. 

How do I reclaim evangelicalism, as an African American progressive (politically and theologically) who is also born again, believes the Bible, and wants to share Jesus with everyone I meet? I live into the fullness of my calling. I am called to be a liberator. The way that I can best do that is through the preaching of the word and speaking truth to power through the preached word. I believe that the words of scripture can liberate the soul, and, in turn, inspire people to liberate others. Moreover, I am called to live into the radical love ethic of Jesus. I am a Luke 10 Christian. I love God and do my best to love my neighbor as I love myself. That means compassion cannot be sinful despite those who have denounced recent public calls for mercy as somehow wrong or unholy. We must show compassion to all who need it. 

Finally, I am called to be a witness. I am a witness to the saving power of the gospel. I was converted as a teenager; I live a life that has been changed by the love of Jesus Christ. My job is to spread the good news. Why? Because I’m an evangelical.

The Rev. Craig T. Robinson, Jr. ’11 M.Div., ’14 S.T.M. is the Senior Pastor of St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church in Chicago. A graduate of Morehouse College (B.A. in history), he has additional training in pastoral care through the Lutheran Social Services New York Alliance certificate program in Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). Before arriving at St. James church, he served as pastor of two churches in New York State. He has been a mentor, trainer of student ministers, instructor in preaching, AME Liturgy and Hymnody, and AME History for Ministerial Training Institutes in several Conferences. He is a member of the YDS Alumni Board.