Jump directly to the Content

Are Pastors Discarding the ‘Evangelical’ Label? We Surveyed Hundreds

Here’s what we discovered.
Are Pastors Discarding the ‘Evangelical’ Label? We Surveyed Hundreds

Three days after the election of Donald Trump, Skye Jethani tweeted “#FarewellEvangelicalism” and published an open letter explaining his dissatisfaction with the term. The author and pastor predicts the label will soon fall out of use: “When our successors write a history of these times, I suspect the modern American evangelical movement will rest neatly within the lifespan of Billy Graham.” Other Christian leaders—including Russell Moore, Shane Claiborne, Katelyn Beaty, John Fea, and Preston Yancey—have expressed similar frustration with the term or abandoned it during the 2016 election season.

Others have held fast to the evangelical label, despite reservations. Mark Labberton and Richard Mouw released a statement defining Fuller Seminary’s association with the term. They write,

Because of its non-negotiable commitment to the evangel, God’s good news, Fuller Seminary will continue to identify itself as evangelical. We must understand evangelical ...
Tags:
March
Support Our Work

Subscribe to CT for less than $4.25/month

Homepage Subscription Panel

Read These Next

From the Magazine
Empty Streets to the Empty Grave
Empty Streets to the Empty Grave
While reporting in Israel, photographer Michael Winters captures an unusually vacant experience at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Editor's Pick
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
Understanding God and our world needs more than bare reason and experience.
close