Organizing the New Center

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RON SIDER

Organizing the New Center

of Evangelicals’ historic declaration in 2004, “For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility.” And in the last few years, prominent megachurch pastors—Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Joel Hunter, and Richard Nathan—have clearly and publicly proSomething astonishing has happened in moted this broader agenda. A new, very important possibility the past few years in evangelical circles.An emerging evangelical center has replaced now presents itself. If it is possible to the religious right as the dominant group organize this new evangelical center, we in the evangelical world. A national poll could work with others who share a taken right after the election last November broad pro-life vision to profoundly change revealed an encouraging trend:A majority American public life. Why do I say “if”? First, because I know (55 percent) of evangelicals want a political agenda that deals with both the more that there is no unified political vision in personal issues of abortion/family/marriage the evangelical world, even if the recent and the more corporate issues of economic poll is correct in identifying a widespread justice/creation care/peacemaking. (Of the embrace of a broadly “completely pro-life” remaining evangelicals polled, 21 percent agenda. And second, because the evanstill prefer a political agenda primarily gelical world is enormously decentralized concerned with abortion and family, and organizationally. It is composed of hun18 percent want to focus primarily on dreds of separate denominations, thousands of disconnected parachurch organizations, poverty, creation care, and peacemaking.) That is a dramatic rejection of the reli- and a vast variety of disconnected, indegious right, which for more than two pendent leaders and groups. We must somehow discover a process decades has promoted a much narrower that respects the un-hierarchical, decenagenda. What happened? Many things. Ever since World Vision tralized reality of the evangelical world started about 50 years ago as a Korean while effectively nurturing widespread orphans’ choir raising funds for a few cooperation on our common agenda. The starting point for wide-scale orphanages, evangelical relief and development agencies have been steadily grow- evangelical cooperation is almost always ing in numbers, scope, and skill. Over a biblically grounded declaration that several decades, evangelical leaders have large numbers of prominent evangelical turned away from their earlier view that gatekeepers endorse.The NAE’s widely Christians should be primarily focused on endorsed “For the Health of the Nation” evangelism and have come to embrace may serve this purpose. Then several dozen of the evangelical holistic mission, understanding that both evangelism and social action are impor- world’s prominent leaders and their orgatant for biblical Christians. More slowly, nizations would need to form a new but then powerfully and visibly in the last network for the explicit purpose of coopfive years, many evangelicals have endorsed erating to shape public life on the basis of their common declaration.We do not creation care as a biblical mandate. For decades, a few of us protested the want or need a new organization. Rather narrow political agenda of the religious we need a new network that enables right as unbiblical, not primarily in what large numbers of existing organizations it affirmed, but in what it ignored. Slowly to coordinate their efforts. A large counmomentum built for a broader agenda, cil of reference of distinguished evangelicrystallizing in the National Association cal leaders would be important. So would PRISM 2009

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regular meetings of the leaders of the major cooperating organizations and a small staff for the network. It would be essential to organize in such a way that not all members of the network would need to affirm and work on every concrete initiative. Specific programs (whether on overcoming poverty, reducing abortion, or promoting marriage or creation care) could be done under the general umbrella of the whole network but in the name of the leaders and organizations that sign on to that specific program. Exactly how to structure the network so that effective, sustained cooperation happens is only dimly clear. It will require wisdom, patience, and creative experimentation. But it must be done, because the potential results are far-reaching. If white evangelicals truly embraced this broader agenda, several influential partners would be ready to work with us. The Vatican and the US Catholic bishops already officially promote an agenda that is strikingly similar to the NAE’s “For the Health of the Nation.”The rapidly growing Latino evangelical world is conservative on abortion and family but wants strong action on economic justice and immigration reform. African American Christians do not use the word “evangelical” and have no interest in cooperation with white evangelicals unconcerned with racism and overcoming poverty. But African Americans also have conservative views on abortion and marriage and would gladly join a coalition with white evangelicals and Catholics that was seriously committed to racial and economic justice. Obviously, what I propose is a 20-year project. To succeed we must think more deeply, cooperate more vigorously, and learn how to engage public life in a civil, sustained, sophisticated way. We must also be clear that politics is not of ultimate importance and at best will produce limited, imperfect results.We must hold our political views lightly, always Continued on page 2.


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