Evangelical vs Progressive Christianity
What do they actually believe?
Part eight: Social Responsibility
This is the 8th in a series of blogs where we are comparing the mission statements of an evangelical congregation with that of a progressive congregation. By scrolling down you can find the previous seven blogs.
- Foundation of Faith
- The Trinity
- God’s Relationship with Humanity
- Nature of Salvation
- Humanity’s Relationship With God
- Spiritual Practices
- Purpose of Spiritual Community
They are located below in reverse order (newest to oldest). Feel free to read them in any order you choose, but they might make more sense if you read them in order. For what it’s worth.
Also, I need to interject here that I do not believe in the theology of either congregation But I do have an opinion about which dogma or which view of God is healthier for humanity. Once again, what matters here is how each congregation views their…
Social Responsibility
Evangelical: We equip people with vision and tools for joining in God’s redemptive plan. That’s why we are passionate about relieving suffering, fighting injustice, and hold out the gospel as the hope of renewing all things.
Progressive: Our starting point in the story of God is that all humans were created in love and for love. There is no hierarchy of value for a human life. But when dehumanization occurs, especially in the form of violence, we must turn again to Christ, who taught us that what we do to the most vulnerable, we have also done unto him. And we must ask for guidance from the Spirit as we critically examine ourselves, our institutions, our beliefs, and our practices which retain and perpetuate expressions of violence against non-white bodies.
For more than ten years, we have sought to answer the call to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God. We will continue to take care of those who are harmed by unjust systems. We will insist on fairness for all people. We will remain loyal to those who have no voice. We will oppose authority when those in charge abuse their power. We will hold sacred the bodies of black and brown people. We will work for justice until there is true liberty for all.
This is an essential part of our work as followers of the One who came and suffered in solidarity with the oppressed and marginalized, and who gave us the most important of all the commands: to love God, love our neighbors, and love ourselves.
This is the first time that the progressive statement is longer than the evangelical one. The reason will become clear soon enough. But first let’s look at what the evangelical congregation says about social responsibility.
Evangelical: We equip people with vision and tools for joining in God’s redemptive plan.
Not quite sure what this has to do with social responsibility but here we are again, back at God’s redemptive plan. Once again evangelicals have not been specific about what they mean by “vision and tools” for joining that plan. This leads me to believe that they don’t really have either; vision or tools. It sounds good, but talk is cheap.
Evangelical: That’s why we are passionate about relieving suffering, fighting injustice, and hold out the gospel as the hope of renewing all things.
Notice that evangelicals may be “passionate about relieving suffering and fighting injustice” but they don’t have any specifics plans for actually achieving that passion. Their only plan is to “hold out the gospel as hope of renewing all things.” Once again there’s that silver bullet that this time will magically solve all social injustice issues. How has that worked out so far?
“to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine,
even the least of them, you did it to me”.
Now, let’s look at the progressive stance on social responsibility.
Progressive: Our starting point in the story of God is that all humans were created in love and for love. There is no hierarchy of value for a human life. But when dehumanization occurs, especially in the form of violence, we must turn again to Christ, who taught us that what we do to the most vulnerable, we have also done unto him. And we must ask for guidance from the Spirit as we critically examine ourselves, our institutions, our beliefs, and our practices which retain and perpetuate expressions of violence against non-white bodies.
I believe this idea comes from Matthew 25.
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you invited me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me” Then the righteous will answer him saying, “when did we do all this for you”? And the King will answer and say to them, “to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me”.
Notice that for progressives the path to social justice involves critical examination of ourselves, our institutions and our own practices. There are people in our country (in fact entire states) that believe social injustice is a myth, and to critically examine our institutions is an act of treason. Fortunely for “the least of them” the progressives have chosen to ignore such falsehoods and actually have a plan to fight injustice.
Progressive: For more than ten years, We have sought to answer the call to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God. We will continue to take care of those who are harmed by unjust systems. We will insist on fairness for all people. We will remain loyal to those who have no voice. We will oppose authority when those in charge abuse their power. We will hold sacred the bodies of black and brown people. We will work for justice until there is true liberty for all.
Rather than just saying that they are passionate about “relieving suffering and fighting injustice” progressives have chosen to act on their beliefs in the form of specific behaviors. Take a minute and reread the list of what they will do. Now that we have seen how they will battle injustice, let’s look at why they do it.
This is an essential part of our work as followers of the One who came and suffered in solidarity with the oppressed and marginalized, and who gave us the most important of all the commands: to love God, love our neighbors, and love ourselves.
There you have it. No empty words. No false hope. No magic silver bullet. Just action… because God commanded us to love.
Point for Progressive! 8-0
Coming up next:
We will examine what each congregation has to say about…
LGBTQ Inclusion
Evangelical:
Progressive: Most churches in America make an exception to the full embrace of God by excluding LGBTQ-identifying individuals. From our evangelical roots, the full inclusion of LGBTQ people was a radical departure. We set out to embody a “new normal’ of what a church family should look like — LGBTQ and Straight individuals and families worshiping and learning together in shared community.
From Where I Stand
Dale Crum