While I have changed a lot of my thinking over the years, I still consider myself to be a conservative when it comes to my theology. My views on a lot of social issues, however, are considered liberal by most of my conservative friends. So, I find myself in an odd position. My liberal friends think I am too conservative and my conservative friends think I am to liberal. I am a man without a country.
The reason I bring this up is because of something I have noticed over the last few years. As I have become more and more involved in social justice issues, I find myself rubbing shoulders more and more with mainline denominations. For some reason, there are very few evangelical churches actively involved in issues that are important to me. Furthermore, when my church needs help with the ministries we are involved in, more often then not, the churches that are willing to help are mainline, instead of evangelical.
Why is that, you may ask? Well, I think it goes back to the split in the united states in the early 1900s over “social gospel” and “personal evangelism.” Somehow, as followers of Jesus, we need to build a bridge between the two and come back together.
Another thing I have noticed over the last few years, is that more and more of the Christian organizations I work with, are headed by female clergy. Fewer and fewer of my partners in ministry are men. I am thankful for the strong women that head these organizations and the things they are doing to change the world.
Just a couple of observations on a hot Friday in May.
Floods of Justice 