What does it mean for us to be Evangelical Lutherans? Consider this point from the Evangelical Manifesto:
…Evangelicalism should be distinguished from two opposite tendencies to which Protestantism has been prone: liberal revisionism and conservative fundamentalism. Called by Jesus to be “in the world, but not of it,” Christians, especially in modern society, have been pulled toward two extremes. Those more liberal have tended so to accommodate the world that they reflect the thinking and lifestyles of the day, to the point where they are unfaithful to Christ; whereas those more conservative have tended so to defy the world that they resist it in ways that also become unfaithful to Christ.
Isn’t this the divide that we face around every corner in the ELCIC? What if we had a renewed understanding of our Evangelical Faith? I think it would give us the hope we need to move, from left or right, to a place where we live faithfully under the lordship of Jesus Christ.
As with any manifesto, it is never complete, but it does serve to inspire us to think about our witness and ministry to the world.
PT
What if...? 