[asa] Re: Young Evangelicals was RE: Creation Care Magazine

Rich -- this sort of thing is what I've been seeing in my mainstream
evangelical church. There are some excellent young people (wow, I feel old
calling 20-somethings "young") who have definitely moved beyond the old
evangelical political paradigms. The have meetings at coffeehouses and pubs
to talk about things like healthcare for the poor. Very cool.

On Jan 24, 2008 2:55 PM, Rich Blinne <rich.blinne@gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Jan 22, 2008 3:03 PM, I wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > On Jan 22, 2008 11:14 AM, Janice Matchett <janmatch@earthlink.net>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > Stop arguing about the bottom line. I will help the poor . You will
> > > help the poor. But don't attempt to steal from me what's mine so that you
> > > can use my resources to help the poor.
> > >
> > > Got it?
> > >
> > >
> >
> > I remain optimistic that the viewpoint above is becoming increasingly
> > an anomaly as other evangelicals and [unmentionables] are starting to get
> > it.
>
>
> This week two things came out that brought this into sharper relief.
> First, David Brooks had the following op-ed on the "revolt" concerning the
> grassroots of the [unmentionables].
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/opinion/22brooks.html
>
> The movement [unmentionables] are losing control of their ranks with R ush
> L imbaugh complaining the death of the party if the candidates who are
> currently winning end up getting the nomination. Particularly interesting is
> the evangelical base. The leaders support different candidates than the
> grass roots. H uckabee is getting more support from the grass roots even
> though his economic approach differs wildly from the "bottom line" expressed
> above.
>
> Which brings me to what also came out this week: Jim Wallis' new book, The
> Great Awakening. Here Wallis notes the post-religious-r ight evangelicalism.
> Wallis quotes a mega-church pastor who is tired with the private-only
> solutions by one side and the public-only solutions on the other. The
> "answer" being espoused is to start private and then prophetically move into
> the public space. What's different about this book than previous ones is
> that it's descriptive and not prescriptive. Namely, he is stating that he
> himself is behind the curve and trying to catch up with the next generation
> of evangelicals. Another refreshing aspect of this book is that it doesn't
> read like the answer to the religous r ight is the religious l eft -- at
> least that's how his previous books struck me. Rather, Wallis is describing
> young evangelicals -- including the college-aged ones that we are trying to
> reach as part of the ASA's mission -- are becoming more involved with
> climate change, poverty, Darfur, etc. The difference between the current
> activism and past ones is that these students are, as he described,
> prophetic rather than p artisan.
>
> I really think that these two are on to something here. Ted, is that what
> you are seeing on campus at Messiah College?
>
> Rich Blinne (Member ASA)
>
>
>

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Received on Thu Jan 24 15:14:27 2008