I wouldn’t necessarily define myself as evangelical per se (I am an Israeli Jewish Christian who grew in the Hebrew speaking Messianic movement here) but I recognize that I (and we as a movement) have evangelical roots. And I thank you Scot for reminding me to stop criticizing all the time and to remember to affirm that which is good.
1. Perseverance under persecution – it was my father’s family’s Christian faith, indeed their Evangelical faith, that enabled them to faithfully persevere in Communist Romania, even as they were being persecuted for being Christian and harassed for being Jewish.
2. Evangelicals brought us the Gospel here in Israel – If it wasn’t for Evangelicals we wouldn’t have 10,000 Jewish Christians here in Israel. At a time when the Catholic, Orthodox and Mainline Protestant Churches didn’t dream of Evangelism among Jews – Evangelicals stepped up to the plate. They also didn’t deliberately try to conform us to any specific Christian denomination. We are still trying to work out our identity here, but I appreciate we were given the chance to do so.
3. I meet many Christians from many different traditions here in Jerusalem and so I can honestly say that Evangelicals are the Christians with the most Joy of life and the most generous hearts, out of all the Christians that I meet.

As a “non-evangelical” I would like to share a story. As a parish council we have been meeting recently to try and redefine and focus our efforts. In particular, the parish is concerned about the aging and gradual dwindling of our membership. Often Anglicans are unclear on the concept of taking the message outside the church walls. They have their missions, locally and around the world, and social work, of course, but they don’t really do evangelism, in the way evangelicals think about it. They have always believed that if people need us or want what we have to offer, they know where we are. In a recent meeting the discussion strayed to how much our faith meant to each of us for various reasons – the sort of unguarded revelations we don’t normally share. The discussion ended like this:
One woman said, “And we have to keep in mind, the reason we want to reach out isn’t just to grow the parish – it’s because of the sort of things we have been sharing. Because we have this beautiful message, this extraordinary gift of grace, this wonderful place of healing – and people now need it more than ever. But how do we communicate that to people outside the church walls? How is it that we tell people we have what they need? What do we call that sort of communication?”
“Like teaching, lectures, public workshops or something?”
“Do you mean like advertising ourselves? That’s not the right word, but..”
“Like marketing? That’s not the right word, either. Promotion – not promoting ourselves, I mean, but what we stand for.”
“It’s called evangelism,” the rector said quietly. “That’s the name for it. Evangelism.”
“Well….I don’t know if I’d go that far.”
At their best what Christians do, both those who call themselves evangelical and those who don’t, is to have such love for the gospel that they can’t help but communicate it, through their words, loving actions and faithfulness. What evangelicals do best is love the gospel and be unafraid to communicate it to strangers.

Just one criticism and that is of myself: your words convict me that I have allowed myself to jump on the bandwagon of criticizing evangelicalism when evangelicals (albeit charismatic ones) were the ones to explain the message to me in a way that allowed for a response and peace with God. I am thankful for the prophetic in the things that you write, Scot. Your ability to be open-handed and generous is a great help to me. Thanks.

“Criticizing evangelicalism is fashionable and evangelicals have joined the fashion, sometimes with apocalyptic fervor.”
Thanks for having the guts to say this. It’s so very true, and I’m as guilty as the next guy. Ultimately, I’m so very thankful for my evangelical heritage and the evangelical world that I still live in. Sure, there are things that could be better, but I think that’s true of every sector of reality…in a highly skeptical society we always find the negative and highlight it. Shame on us! Thanks for highlighting some of the things we do well.
I also think we do social justice well. Now, I know this goes against the norm and that people who stereotype evangelicals as only focusing on eternity and forgetting the here and now might disagree. But when you look at the worlds most effective and largest scale humanitarian organizations, many have evangelical roots and ties and are heavily supported by those in evangelicalism.

I think we’re getting better at putting flesh to our faith; putting feet to our faith; pursuing issues of mercy, justice,and compassion.
Like you, I hear so much of how much we lack or fall short, but I think we need to invest more time celebrating the good that is being through our larger evangelical community.

When I look at all the Evangelical Scholars and Theologians, I feel as if modern scholastic Evangelicalism is what Liberal Protestantism wished it could have been originally: Honest, but not hopeless.

I think our self-criticism is a strength. We do that right and we should not stop.

Evangelicalism is a bit of different beast over here in the UK but most of your points seem valid. At least at the moment we seem less likely to create divisions among different evangelical groups.
I wonder if what is really needed is a renewed interest in evangelical spirituality? I often encounter the idea that there is no depth to evangelical spirituality, so evangelicals go and look in Catholicism, Orthodoxy for real soul food. I have no problem with this mining of Christianity’s collective resources and have been really enriched by those traditions.
Its the idea that evangelical spirituality is some how second rate I worry about, I think we are short changing ourselves and the whole of Christianity with this attitude.
I remember reading Alister McGrath’s “Roots that Refresh” his book on reformation spirituality and being so incredibly “refreshed” in my spirit. We need people who will do the same sort of work for Wesley, the Holiness Movement, the Mennonites, the early Pentecostals, etc not at an academic, historic or purely descriptive level but at a popular level helping evangelical appropriate the depth of their own tradition.

My post was longer, but I lost it, so I’ll be succinct. I haven’t spent a lot of time dwelling on the ecumenicalism of evangelicalism, but you’re right that there’s something beautiful about it (although I could digress into critique at this point, I still my fingers…)
Something to add to compliment evangelicals – graciousness and generosity. I live in Jerusalem, and we see hordes of pilgrims of varying religious backgrounds, but evangelicals I’ve met here and in the States consistently are some of the most kind and caring people, and are willing to give of their time and money for causes they believe in. I find that admirable and praiseworthy.

Having recently started an “emerging church cohort,” I find that we walk that fine line all the time between constructive self-criticism which produces growth and change and relentless “institutional church” bashing as a way to try to define ourselves.
Here are two examples that come to mind of things we do well when we are motivated and creative:
Tim Downs, in his book “Finding Common Ground: How to Communicate With Those Outside the Christian Community…While We Still Can” reminds evangelicals that while many of us may not be good at “harvesting” ministries, so many more of us can be and are great at “planting the seeds” of the Gospel.
An evangelical pastor in Russia was doing all the things well that are described above, but was encountering opposition from the Russian Orthodox Church. He asked, and was allowed to become a member. Now he does evangelicalism well from within the Russian Orthodox Church!
O.K. One more. From personal experiences, I know that many evangelicals of all stripes (traditional, charismatic, emergent, conservative and progressive) love God and love others in myriad and incredible ways.

In the spirit of outreach, evangelicals have embraced communication technologies and mediums at a rate that far outpaces others within the religious community. While there have been problems inherent within that acceptance, evangelicals have done a pretty good job of “being all things to all people”.

A. Ben-Shmuel (#9) and Ben-Shmuel (#1)
Great comments and an interesting perspective. We’ve spent some time in Jerusalem (one term) and found it a fascinating mix.
And
I’m being repetitive, but each post seems to bring a new audience onto the blog. The verification text times-out far too quickly. To avoid losing a long comment either:
(1) Write in a word processor and cut and paste into the comment box after refreshing the page on the browser;
or
(2) Copy the comment before typing the verification text and posting – so that you can simply paste it back in the box if the code has timed out.

First time posting in the new location, so forgive this sidetrack (as this may have been answered before). Is it not possible to see both the full text of the posting (by clicking “continue reading this posting”), AND all of the comments? For me, it’s either one or the other. Am I missing something?

Ben,
I agree. Evangelicals give money away like no other group I know. Cash charity flows incredibly, which also indicates to some extent the ability of evangelicals to actually ‘make’ money. That’s also quite a feat.
DJ
AMDG

rob (#13)
Short answer – no, at least I don’t think so. I usually open the post in one tab and the comments in another tab in my browser so I can easily move back and forth between them when writing a comment.
And – beware, the verification text times-out (see #12)

I love what Mariam (#2) said: “What evangelicals do best is love the gospel and be unafraid to communicate it to strangers.” Since the gospel is literally “good news” how can we in good conscience keep it to ourselves, especially since we’ve been told to love others as ourselves.
“This beautiful message, this extraordinary gift of grace, this wonderful place of healing” is meant for everyone.

If the “church reformed is always reforming,” isn’t being critical of ourselves part of the deal?

#17, Scott…
Yes, of course, but a diet of only critique isn’t appropriate. One of things we do like about evangelicalism is self-critique!

Scot, I agree. We do many things well. I think your post awhile back on why you do not convert to the RC or EO or something else is because you see strengths in evangelicalism that other groups do not possess. This was excellent.
For me some of these strengths would be:
Emphasis on personal conversion
Emphasis on missiology/missional/evangelism
Emphasis on social concern
Emphasis on personal relationship with God
Emphasis on grace
Emphasis on discipleship/spiritual formation/life-transformation
Emphasis on the Bible

One other strenght to (or at least it should be):
An emphasis upon Jesus Christ as the center of our faith.

As much as I love the work of Dallas Willard a good female voice in that category is Ruth Haley Barton. If you’ve never read any of her work it is a must.
I’ve always struggled with ecumenicalism because it seems like such a distant past. I’m not Roman Catholic but I love their ability to have ecumenicalism, at least within the confines of the RCC. I so often hear shouts of “heresy” from pastors and teachers who have not consulted the rest of the Christian world, and in fact, don’t have the corner market on orthodoxy. Many evangelical doctrines, especially within the reformed camp, have only been around in any serious way for about 500 years and although they may be true, or at least shed light on an issue previously ignored in important ways they are hardly the measure for ortho(right)doxy(worship).

Can’t say I haven’t anything to add at the moment, but I wanted to say it’s nice to take a break from beating up on evangelicalism. We’re imperfect, but there’s a lot that we do right, and most folks’ hearts really are in the right place.

Although I agree with many of the criticisms Scot noted and could add a few more, I will go with the spirit of this post and mention two things I admire about evangelicals.
1. They are practical and adaptable. There is no other “brand” in Christendom that tries harder to get church to work, to fix what they perceive is broken, to examine and re-examine their theology and to figure out how to reach people as the world keeps changing. Evangelicals are far more aware of the times than any other part of Christianity.
2. They have figured out marketing and media. Evangelicals have a distinguishable “brand,” complete with nationally and internationally recognized pastors and other leaders. At least in the U.S., among the general population, when you think Christian, you think Evangelical. I’d also argue that most Americans could name many of Evangelicals’ political positions and possibly some of their theological ones. They have saturated the market.
Of course whether #2 is ultimately a good thing is up for discussion.

I think that evangelicalism overall demonstrates a discerning spirit of inquiry and courageous willingness to explore theological formulations as human constructs and not as constructs that are as inerrant as the Bible itself. I think the evangelicals are more open to self-evaluation and correction than other segments of the USAmerican church.

As one studying philosophy of religion, I must add an important, though sometimes overlooked strength of evangelicalism:
(1) Rigorous but charitable Christian philosophy in a discipline diametrically opposed to Christianity. Think Alvin Plantinga, Steven Davis, Bill Craig, C. Steve Evans, Mike Rae, J.P. Moreland, Keith Yandell, William Alston, Nicholas Wolterstorff, George Mavrodes, Dallas Willard, Harold Netland, etc.
Also, a couple more obvious ones:
(2) Missions and missiology (I’ll leave you to fill in your favorite names.)
(3) Preaching (again, fill in the names as you see fit).

I think that evangelicalism overall demonstrates a discerning spirit of inquiry and courageous willingness to explore theological formulations as human constructs and not as constructs that are as inerrant as the Bible itself. I think the evangelicals are more open to self-evaluation and correction than other segments of the USAmerican church.

Maybe I forgot to be uplifting. I am proud be an evangelical because of the freedom and diversity of thought that is allowed, within reason. No other faith tradition, as far as I’m aware, balances orthodoxy with exploration quite as readily and with as many checks and balances.

I second:
Generous. Practical & adaptable. Wanting to share the good news. The bible and theology are important. Personal response to God is necessary.
And particularly Scott Eaton’s:
Jesus is the center.
Dana

A personal favorite: hermeneutics.
I travelled from a “fighting fundy” direction with poor hermeneutics to evangelicalism.
I was assigned to read from a number authors in my hermeneutics class: VanHoozer, Silva, Carson, Osborne, Webb, Fee and Stuart, Green, Greidanus, others.
Caveats would include: these authors are not necessarily all equally evangelical or equally accepted by evangelicalism, and plenty of evangelicals persist in sloppy methods. Nevertheless, I read them within an evangelical seminary and within the evangelical tradition (where I remain today) and those authors (and my profs) changed me for the better.

Great post! Thanks for highlighting some positives, as well as encouraging others to do the same! I would agree with those who mentioned missions as an important element, though perhaps that falls under experiencing “the new birth.”

One other thing we do well is to discern what is good to borrow from other traditions and customize it to fit our own theology and spirituality.

I’m a bit surprised that Julie Clawson hasn’t commented here herself, but she has a response to this entry over on her own blog (at http://julieclawson.com/2008/11/13/ecumenical-evangelicals) that I think is worth a read. Specifically, she wonders if Evangelicals really ARE good at being ecumenical. My reaction isn’t quite as strong as hers, but when she wonders if a better word might have been “inter-denominational,” noting that there are indeed many Christian groups that Evangelicals remain distrustful of, I think she has a good point.

- Going to church
- Intercessory and petitionary prayer
- Reading the bible
- Tithing (sort of)

…oh, and
- having bible studies and small groups

I agree with Tony Hunt (#6)
I think that scholastic Evangelicalism is becoming what Christian scholarship should be, Christ-centered, honest, hopeful, and respectful of church tradition (emphasis on honest). There are growing pains – but I am encouraged.

1. I appreciate the desire to handle Scripture well. Traditionally, evangelicalism has had a high view of Scripture.
2. Evangelicalism has shown a willingness to critique itself and to practice much reflection on itself.

Thanks Mark…
I didn’t want to break the rules for this thread with a non-positive question, but it was bugging me all morning. So I cheated and posted on my blog…

Professor McKnight,
Evangelicals of all classifications and denominations tend to always have a passionate vive to their theological perspective of the world and how they interact within the world. If one is a fundamentalist evangelical, they tend to be passionately fundamentalist. If one is a socially minded evangelical, then they tend to be passionately socially minded etc… If one is like you and they are an extremely loving evangelical, then those, like you, are passionately loving and excepting of others.
So what do evangelicals do well as a whole? Passion.

When I think of Evangelicals, I think of deep roots going back to the Reformation and a recovery of biblically centered spirituality, and I think of the vibrant personal emphasis of Pietism, the social engagement of Wilberforce and the Clapham Community, the pioneering missionary efforts of figures like William Carey, and the creation of voluntary societies that allowed Xians to mobilize in powerful ways. In its more modern incarnation, I think of a movement that continues to emphasize the importance of personal faith, as well as a concern with being culturally engaged.

Great post and great comments. Makes me appreciate more both my heritage and where I am in the church, in spite of the weaknesses.
I think it has improved much over the years, though my association with Prairie Bible Institute in Alberta, Canada brought out the strengths of our evangelical heritage quite strongly, and PBI seems to have gotten only better over the years.
But this is a great heads up to me, Scot, and an encourager, really. For all our deficiencies and problems, there is so much good and so much to be thankful for.
I should list something: Just our emphasis on Scripture as being central for our faith and practice- and that we see it as and call it, the word of God. Of course it leads us to where our faith needs to be centered- God in Christ.

RE What do Evangelicals do well?
Although the Church was not referring only to the subset of Protestants know as Evangelicals, I think that the observations of the 2nd Vatican Council would apply:
~They look to Christ as the source and center of Church unity.
~Their longing for union with Christ inspires them to seek an ever closer unity, and also to bear witness to their faith among the peoples of the earth.
~They love and reverence Sacred Scripture which might be described as devotion, leading them to a constant meditative study of the sacred text.
~While invoking the Holy Spirit, they seek in these very Scriptures God as it were speaking to them in Christ.
~They contemplate in the Scriptures the life of Christ and what the Divine Master taught and did for our salvation, especially the mysteries of His death and resurrection.~
When they commemorate His death and resurrection in the Lord’s Supper, they profess that it signifies life in communion with Christ and look forward to His coming in glory.
~Their daily Christian life is nourished by their faith in Christ.
~Their faith shows itself in private prayer, meditation on the Bible, in Christian family life, and in the worship of a community gathered together to praise God.
~Their faith in Christ bears fruit in praise and thanksgiving for the blessings received from the hands of God.
~Among them is a strong sense of justice and a true charity toward their neighbor.
~Their active faith has been responsible for many organizations for the relief of spiritual and material distress, the furtherance of the education of youth, the improvement of the social conditions of life, and the promotion of peace throughout the world.
~They share our desire to stand by the words of Christ as the source of Christian virtue.
Adapted from Unitatis Redintegratio (1964)

My tuppence worth: (do you Americans know about tuppences? )
Historic orthodoxy – evangelicalism at its best is no novelty but in continuity with all the creeds of the Church catholic
Good News – At the heart of the movement is a shared experience of the goodness, love and grace of God, shaped by a shared theology
Cultural engagement – contrary to fundamentalism’s retreat from culture. Most evangelicals i know are passionate about engaging with the world they live in.
Radicalism – at its best, it is a movement for reform, self-questioning, spiritual renewal and a suspicion of dead traditionalism.
Patrick
PS I prefer ‘evangelical Christian’ where evangelical is more an adjective rather than as a noun ‘evangelical’ – which rather leaves Jesus out of the picture.

We keep the faith very well.