Evangelical Christianity is Not the Only True Christianity
I was raised in a liberal mainline church. I will admit that during the majority of my time in that congregation, I did not take my faith that seriously. It was while attending that church that I ended up becoming an atheist.
After I returned to faith, I also returned to that congregation for a short time. But I eventually found myself in a conservative evangelical church.
I had come to assume that only evangelicals were “true” Christians. Yes, I understood that there were people in evangelical churches who were not serious about their faith and there were a few in other denominations that might actually be Christian, but in general it was evangelicalism that was true Christianity.
This was based on two thoughts, at least on my part.
One was the importance of the “born again” experience. It was evangelicals that stressed the conversion experience and this was generally not a part of the mainline conversation. How could a person be a real Christian if they have not had a specific conversion experience that they could point to?
The other thing was that it seemed as if it was only the evangelicals who took the Bible seriously. Other denominations seemed to overly rely on tradition, reason, and experience. Many of those denominations did not hold onto a doctrine of inerrancy. How could they be real Christians if they did not take God’s Word seriously?
I still see the assumption that evangelicalism equals true Christianity. That is why many speak of ex-evangelicals (or exangelicals) as having left Christianity. If you leave evangelicalism, what else is there abut atheism or agnosticism?
I no longer equate evangelicalism with the only valid form of Christianity. For one thing, there are some pretty serious red flags about the spiritual health of evangelicalism. Perhaps the observation of the growing ex-evangelical movement should lead to some serious self-reflection.
I also see God actively at work in many different denominations and traditions that do not consider themselves evangelical. These people love God and love people and are seeking to live in a Christ-like way. Not holding to some evangelical interpretations does not take away from this.
I tend to go for a big tent Christianity. There is plenty of room for differences of interpretation. You would be amazed at how many different types of Christians hold to the historic creeds. It might also surprise you at how young the evangelical movement is in the history of the church.
This is not a call to leave evangelicalism but is rather a reminder that evangelicalism does not have a monopoly on true Christianity.
