Many today are discarding the evangelical label, even if they still hold to the historic tenets of evangelicalism. But evangelicalism is a space, not just a brand, and living in that space is complicated.
As a lifelong evangelical who happens to be a biracial Asian/White millennial, Dan Stringer has felt both included and alienated by the evangelical community and has wrestled with whether to stay or go. He sits as an uneasy evangelical insider with ties to many of evangelicalism's historic organizations and institutions. Neither "everything's fine" nor "burn it all down," Stringer offers a thoughtful appreciation of evangelicalism's history, identity, and strengths, but also lament for its blind spots, toxic brokenness, and complicity with injustice. From this complicated space, we can move forward with informed vision rather than resignation and with hope for our future together.
"Sometimes it seems evangelicalism has been battered and sullied beyond repair. Dan Stringer shows us why we shouldn't give up on it. A wise and humble guide, he takes us on a compelling tour of the evangelical landscape and models the values of awareness, appreciation, repentance, and renewal that he prescribes as antidotes to our present myopia, dissension, toxicity, and despair. The goal, Pastor Stringer argues, is not to salvage evangelicalism as a brand but to be faithful disciples of Jesus in this particular space where he has called us. The struggle to stay focused on that goal is real, but this excellent book offers hope for the journey."
Edward Gilbreath, vice president at Christianity Today and author of Reconciliation Blues