Christians in the faith-based advocacy organisation, Sojourners, are expressing concern that
the core principles of The Chicago Declaration of Evangelical Social Concern which was
crafted by its founders 45 years ago to confront social and economic injustice in the United
States, has been derailed by politics.
A commentary written by the organisation’s President and Founder, Jim Wallis, and
Executive Director, the Rev. Adam Taylor, in the Sojourners magazine published this week
charges that the Movement spawned by the 1973 Declaration has been “strategically and
politically co-opted — not by more conservative evangelical leaders, but by political
operatives from the Republican Party who saw a real opportunity to take over the evangelical
world by making particular appeals to “conservative social issues.”
The article sets out the original objectives of the Chicago Declaration and points to a new
initiative to discuss and discern the future of evangelicanism and Christian witness. The
authors explain that a younger generation of evangelical leaders and many of the signatories
to the original Declaration have drafted a document entitled “The Chicago Invitation:
Diverse Evangelicals Continue the Journey,” to reaffirm the inclusiveness of the
movement and “rehabilitate” the current negative perception of evangelicals.
Please click here for the full commentary and the text of the Chicago Invitation.
READ MORE:
https://sojo.net/articles/toward-more-authentic-evangelicalism
