I’m an Incarnational Christian: Some Initial Thoughts

I’m an Incarnational Christian: Some Initial Thoughts August 11, 2011

As the results of last week’s poll, and lots of excellent commentary, I’m ready to commit to identifying myself as an “incarnational Christian.” In fact, I’ve already changed my status on Facebook.

I’ll be trotting out my thoughts in a relatively unsystematic way in coming days, and I would welcome you to either leave comments here, on Facebook, or write a post on your own blog and leave the link in the comments below.

  • This is not about not being evangelical. We will not define “incarnational Christianity” by what we’re not. We simply think that the term “evangelical” has been politicized and, at least as it’s used by the media, it does not mean what we want it to mean.
  • We should not capitalize “incarnational.” That might lead some to believe that this is on the way to becoming a denomination or an organization. This is not an organization — it’s simply a descriptive adjective that will help others understand the version of Christianity that we practice. We are incarnational Christians, not Incarnational Christians.


  • We should do everything we can to avoid letting this descriptor being politicized.
    That means, when we’re asked to explain what it means to be an incarnational Christian, we should rely on theological categories. No talk about how we’re “not that kind of Christian” (is anyone else sick of phrase?) or about how we’re politically this or that. We talk about the incarnational aspect of our Christianity (more about that in tomorrow’s post).
  • We should not commoditize this word. This is not about making money, for me or anyone.

What are your additions to this list?


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