A modest proposal for a tired word

I would like to nominate a word for official retirement. I know language engineering is a complex endeavour but it has had its successes. Recently I shocked myself when I used the word fisher rather than fisherman. And I know I haven’t used gay in its earlier sense of lightheartedness for decades. Language changes, so why not be a little proactive?

My proposal is modest because it doesn’t suggest the word be immediately and completely expunged from the Mennonite Brethren lexicon, only that it not be used when a better word – which I will also suggest – can be used instead. This humble proposal may even solve a problem raised by Walter Unger in his article, “Evangelicalism: ‘growth without depth’: Do Mennonites really belong?” (Herald, December 2006).

My candidate for word retirement? Evangelical.

Let me explain. I recently subscribed to an erudite journal called Books and Culture, whose editorial board co-chairs are Messrs. Philip Yancey and Mark Noll. They are a couple of very clever fellows and those who write in this journal do their utmost to delve deeply and intricately into the way things were, are, and should be – especially things evangelical.

And so, on a lonely, rainy, windswept, west coast Saturday afternoon, I immersed myself in its pages. For several hours I considered topics such as which name we should use for God when we kneel down to pray. And why don’t other intellectuals appreciate us when we’re trying so hard to fit into their conversations?

Taking the dog for a walk in the rain was beginning to look more and more attractive.

And then I read an essay entitled “Evangelicals Behaving Badly with Statistics.” Apparently, for all the other problems we have, evangelicals also misuse mathematics. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Is statistical sin also an evangelical issue? Surely finding a unique evangelical angle here is impossible!

And indeed it is. Evangelical misbehaviour with statistics is no different from anyone else’s. From Planned Parenthood to Focus on the Family, from Greenpeace to Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, organizations with points of view to sell behave badly with statistics while conducting their sales pitches.

As far as it identified anything evangelical, the article was meaningless. Evangelicals are just doing what everyone else does. Without the misuse of statistics, the daily TV newscast would be a dull affair. Behaving badly with statistics has nothing to do with evangelicalism.

Because the weather was so inclement, I pondered another question. What exactly is an evangelical?

And there was the nub of the problem. There is nothing that identifies evangelicalism. The problem is not the misuse of statistics. Evangelical is just a useless label.

Frankly, it has been a confusing term for centuries. In Europe the Lutherans were evangelical and the Reformers were not. In England it’s Methodists who are evangelical and Catholics who aren’t. (Apparently Anglicans can choose.)

In the U.S. and Canada the word was once linked to evangelistic crusades (another messy concept) of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Presumably evangelical churches supported the city-wide crusades while non-evangelical churches didn’t. I noted there was no advertising for evangelistic crusades in Books and Culture.

So what is an evangelical today? I went to the website of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. It didn’t help. There were suggested readings and a creedal statement that looked like a sliced-up version of the Apostle’s Creed but the site failed to answer the simplest question: What distinguishes an evangelical from any thoughtful Christian?

Clearly, very little.

And who, calling themselves Christian anywhere in the world or throughout history, would disagree?

Evangelical is a label of convenience that must have worked in different times and cultures for different reasons. But its day has long gone.

Just to be clear, I’m not anti-label. There are labels that do mean something, labels such as fundamentalist, charismatic, liberal, conservative, patriarchal, matriarchal, authoritarian, congregational, pedobaptist, and, from our recent Mennonite Brethren leadership dialogue, complementarian and egalitarian. These words mean something because they define a worldview or a way of doing things.

But who can define or explain evangelical? It’s time to let the word go.

For 2,000 years the followers of Jesus have called themselves Christians. It’s a label that’s wide but defined; it’s the large tent. Within that large tent, we’re the Mennonite Brethren. That too should mean something.

So my modest proposal: from this time forward when we’re tempted to use evangelical, let’s just say Christian. It feels good.

On the next miserable day, by the way, when there’s nothing better to do than set my hair on fire, I’m going after the word “spirituality.”

James Toews is pastor at Neighbourhood Church, Nanaimo, B.C.