Welcome to Revangelical!

Three short years ago I started a radio show with my two best friends at my college called The Bridge with the mission of bridging the divides between evangelicalism and those of other denominational perspectives. After about five months my college canceled the radio show because we had begun to dialogue with folks that were too far beyond its theological comfort level. (to be fair to them, we DID have Tony Jones on the show…) Soon after it’s cancellation, we turned the radio show into to a podcast and I began blogging. As I continued in dialogue with Christians both inside and  outside of Evangelicalism, I began to be convinced that most of what I had been told about all of these “others” was simply inaccurate and false. With each new tradition that I interacted with, I was profoundly enriched and challenged to go deeper into my faith. As I continued exploring these other traditions, I also began to notice that I was not alone in my interest to bridge divides and experience different traditions. Many others in my conservative Bible College were doing similar things- visiting churches, reading books, and exploring what God was doing beyond our narrow Evangelical tradition. It was out of these observations and experiences that the desire to create a community, a movement that was committed to rethinking, reforming, and renewing what it meant and looked like to be an Evangelical Christian was born- and I called it Revangelical.

The mission of Revangelical is to work to develop an alternative Evangelical ethos through rethinking our positions, reforming our practice, and renewing our commitment to the good news of Jesus for the increase of the kingdom of God and the good of the world. In other words, my goal is to help reclaim the word Evangelical to mean “People of the Good News” and help shed the political, economic, cultural, and theological baggage that has been placed on it over the past five decades. Though many of my peers have decided to simply give up the label and tradition and move on to become “spiritual but not religious” (understandably so!), I believe that the Evangelical tradition has an important role to play in global Christianity in the decades to come. I want to make sure that the Gospel we preach and live out in the coming years is centered on the person of Jesus Christ and not on the theological ideologies and political agendas that have hijacked the movement. It’s a huge goal, but it is one that I am convinced that God has called me to. So it is with great optimism and hope that I press into this endeavor, believing that God is doing a new thing in our midst and grateful to have the opportunity to be a small part of it!

Over the past two years, my blog has grown tremendously and so has my vision and passion for this movement. I have been connected with people from nearly every continent on the globe who are getting involved in reforming what it looks like to be followers of Jesus in their own cultural and faith context and I have become convinced that this little project of mine is truly a part of a larger move of God’s Spirit in our world today. After three years of being engaged in the work of Revangelical, today I have been given the tremendous privilege to move from my original blogging platform and to join a team of world-class thinkers, theologians, pastors, and activists here at Patheos. This has been a dream of mine for many years and I am so excited and thankful to have the opportunity to be included in this amazing community. What excites me the most is the tremendous amount of diversity that this portal offers- though all of us at some level claim the title “Evangelical”, we are tremendously diverse in our beliefs, traditions, and practices. And yet, we’re all a part of this one platform. This one community. One faith. One Lord. And that’s what I am all about.

If Revangelical is new to you, I want to extend a warm welcome to you. It is my sincere prayer that this blog will be challenging, encouraging, and inspiring to you as you continue to seek to grow in your faith and understanding of the new movement of God in our world. I also want you to know that is a blog for everyone. If you’re a committed conservative Evangelical, you’re welcome. If you’re a burnt out and cynical ex-Evangelical, you’re welcome. If you’re an atheist or agnostic who has been burned by Evangelicals, you’re welcome here. Though I write as a progressive Evangelical, I write as one who understands the difficulty and pain that the label brings to many who hear it. I write as one who greatly respects older and more traditional Evangelical doctrine and perspective, but also as one who is committed to getting Jesus second hearing among the cynical, skeptical, burned, and non-believing people. I write as one who really believes that the life and teaching of Jesus Christ is actually “good news of great joy for all people!” (Luke 2:10) And it is my prayer that I can represent that well through the medium of this blog.

If you’re an old follower of Revangelical, welcome to our new home! I am thankful for all of you who have followed me over the past few years and undergone this process of reforming your faith along with me and I hope you enjoy and are blessed by the blog in the days to come!

All of this is to say, Welcome! I am so excited to join this community and so excited for what lies ahead for this blog and this movement. I hope you will join me on this journey of rethinking, reforming, and renewing our faith together. For I believe that our best days lie ahead!

Grace and Peace-

Brandan