What Makes an Evangelical?

By Rod Anderson, CP Cartoonist Wednesday, July 06, 2016

Recent conferences, books, blogs, and articles have me wondering whether "evangelical" still means what it used to mean.

Last week Eric Metaxas talked about Russell Moore's appearance at the Justice Conference in Chicago. Moore challenged the 2,500 young evangelicals there to expand their notion of "justice" beyond the popular issues of helping immigrants and the victims of sex trafficking to include the dignity of human life, the rights of children to have mothers and fathers, and the need for sinners to embrace the good news of Christ.

In other words, we must carefully define "justice" if we want to be champions of justice.

And speaking of definitions, the Justice Conference is sponsored by World Relief, the relief and development arm of the National Association of Evangelicals. As such, the group has helped tens of thousands of people in crisis and poverty around the world.

But this gathering wasn't typical of what's often defined as "evangelical." The mission of the event, according to Stephen Bauman, CEO of World Relief, was to "bring out the broader voice of justice and let people decide what's true, what's right."